Travel restrictions in Europe are quickly unraveling as governments drop rules they no longer consider effective in the global fight against the coronavirus and its variants.
Although the continent was hit by a wave of omicron infections earlier this year, many countries haven't waited to relax travel restrictions, arguing that most omicron infections are mild and vaccination rates are high.
In recent weeks, there have been a number of announcements by European governments, ranging from eliminating pre-departure testing for vaccinated travelers to shortening self-isolation periods.
On January 25, the Council of the European Union revised its recommendations to facilitate the safe and free movement of people in the EU during the pandemic.
The council advised member states to adopt a "person-based approach"—rather than a country-based one. It said travelers holding a valid EU Digital COVID Certificate shouldn't be subject to additional restrictions in most cases.
The certificate should show proof of vaccination, a negative PCR test result, or recovery from an infection.
On February 22, the council recommended that member states open more broadly to travelers from outside the EU who received an EU- or World Health Organization-approved vaccine or have recovered.
However, the recommendation didn't include a provision allowing travelers to enter the EU only with negative COVID test results.
Health experts say this makes sense because unvaccinated people are at higher risk for serious disease.
“Vaccines are still very efficient at preventing severe disease by a factor of 10 times more,” Cyrille Cohen, head of the immunotherapy laboratory at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, said in comments to CNBC.
Dale Fisher, group chief of medicine at Singapore’s National University Health System, agrees. He told CNBC that most countries currently require travelers to be vaccinated because "they're not going to put a strain on the country."
On March 11, Airports Council International Europe (ACI EUROPE), a European industry association representing the collective interests of European airports, and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have also called for the lifting of all remaining restrictions on travel within the EU and the Schengen area.
This includes the need to present proof of vaccination or a negative test, or to complete a Passenger Locator Form, also known as PLF.
The two authorities also want mask-wearing to be optional when traveling within or between EU member states where it's no longer mandatory in other indoor environments.
IATA and ACI EUROPE presented evidence to support their call for air travel regulations to be aligned with domestic regulations.
“March 11 marks exactly two years since the WHO announced COVID-19 was a global pandemic. In that time, we have seen increasing evidence that border restrictions are ineffective," said Rafael Schvartzman, IATA’s regional vice president for Europe.
Citing recent independent research by OXERA and Edge Health, he added that by the time a variant of concern is identified and restrictions are put in place, cross-border transmission has already occurred.
"Europe’s population immunity is strong and COVID-19 is essentially now an endemic disease. The time has come to focus their COVID efforts on surveillance and remove remaining intra-EU restrictions. This will free people to travel and support jobs returning to the European air transport and travel sectors,” the official noted.
Referring to the same research findings, Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI EUROPE, said governments can lift the restrictions with confidence—not only for the existing variants but also for any future variants of concern.
"Travel restrictions have proven to be a blunt instrument with little to no impact on virus transmission. Removing all COVID-19 restrictions will finally fully restore the freedom to travel. That will be a much-needed boost for the whole travel and tourism sectors, which have been forced to shed hundreds of thousands of jobs during the pandemic," he commented.
ACI EUROPE and IATA also reiterated the critical role that the EU Digital COVID Certificate, also known as DCC, played in giving countries the confidence to reopen their borders and resume travel.
“We would like to use this opportunity to applaud the EU and member states for the EU DCC development and implementation. We strongly support the value of the EU DCC which will remain crucial, especially for European citizens traveling abroad as well as for third countries. Likewise, the EU DCC will be useful for the containment of eventual variants of concern and enhance industry resilience against future health outbreaks,” they said.
Like everywhere else, travel regulations in Europe change almost daily. In order to travel safely and without worries within or to Europe, it's advisable that you inform yourself about the current travel regulations.
You can find an up-to-date list of travel restrictions for each European country here. You may also find this website useful.
