Several European countries ease travel restrictions to restart tourism

June 15 marks the date that many European countries lift their travel restrictions, but mostly to travellers from other EU member states.

Meanwhile, tourists from the US, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East will just have to wait for now. Europe is expected to start opening up to some visitors from elsewhere next month, but details remain unclear.

Last week, European Union home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, told member nations that they “should open up as soon as possible” and suggested Monday was a good date.

Europe is taking a huge step towards normalcy as countries reopened their borders after months in lockdown. Most of Europe will be ready to welcome travellers by summer. Here are the countries that reopened yesterday:

Iceland – Iceland will open its borders to EU and Schengen Area travellers, while at the same time offering everyone Coronavirus tests as a way to avoid quarantine.

France – France will reopen to travellers from the European Union starting today, June 15. It will lift its restrictions to non-Schengen visitors on July 1.

Belgium – Travellers from the Schengen Area and the European Union, including the United Kingdom, will be eligible to enter Belgium, upon a decision of the National Security Council, as a part of Phase 3 of the transition plan.

Switzerland – Switzerland will open its borders for all European Union Member states including Britons, as well as citizens of the Schengen Associated Countries – Liechtenstein, Norway, and Iceland. Italians will also be permitted to enter the country despite a prior proposal to keep an entry ban for Italy in place.

Germany – Germany will lift a travel warning for non-essential trips to 31 European countries, including the UK, replacing it with individual travel warnings for each country.

Denmark – The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to allow its citizens to travel to Germany, Iceland and Norway, by changing the travel advice for these three countries from risk level ‘orange’ to the risk level ‘yellow’.

Greece – Travellers from the following 29 countries will be eligible to travel to Greece for non-essential purposes: Albania, Australia, Austria, Northern Macedonia, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia, Japan, Israel, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Hungary, Romania, New Zealand, Norway, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Czech Republic, and Finland.

Netherlands – Nationals of the following countries will be eligible to enter the Dutch territory: Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Estonia, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic.