World News

Vaccinated Americans May Be Able to Travel to EU this Summer

European Commission President Optimistic about future of tourism

Reporter Lilly Harris

After over a year of travel bans, the European Union may be opening up for fully vaccinated American tourists this summer, says European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Last year, nonessential travel to the EU was officially banned, with the exception from countries, like South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, who have little to no cases of COVID-19.

Currently, the EU is considering opening up for travel from those who are fully vaccinated, including American tourists.

Some European countries, such as Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Croatia were quick to jump at the opportunity for reopening their borders for foreign travel, considering they greatly depend on American tourists as a source of income.

von der Leyen stated that America is making “huge progress” and is “on track” with dealing with the spread of COVID-19. However, she did not say exactly when tourist travel will open up or how it will happen.

Although von der Leyen never stated how we will go about reopening, it is very likely that vaccine passports and vaccination certificates will be used.

A vaccine passport is a paper or digital certificate, stating that you have been vaccinated against a virus or disease; they are to be expected for foreign travel.

When boarding, passengers need to have a vaccine passport saying that they are fully vaccinated, along with a negative test that was taken at most three days before departing.

The European Union itself has begun to give its own citizens their own version of a vaccination certificate called “digital green certificates,” which will say if the traveler has been vaccinated or not.

However, the European Commission may not let visitors from outside of the bloc visit, or they may have restrictions put in place, like quarantine, even on visitors and tourists who have a vaccination certificate.

By the end of May there should be enough Covid vaccines for all Americans, however, according to Dr. Fauci, it may take till the end of the summer to get the vaccine into people’s arms.

At around the same time as when most people have been vaccinated, the EU should be open for tourists.