Category Archives for Destinations.
Australia, like several island nations, won the first phase of the pandemic. They managed to contain the virus through strict lockdowns and border restrictions, and for much of the last year and a half life has been relatively normal. Now they’re losing the long phase, and the nation’s Prime Minister laid out a re-opening plan that could stretch years. I do not expect it to take nearly as long.
Keeping the U.S. – Canada border closed makes no sense. Infection rates and vaccination rates are roughly similar on both sides of the border. There are variants spreading already on both sides of the border, besides the restrictions weren’t tight enough to stop those anyway. The border has remained closed out of a desire to signal that the government is doing something (fear of foreigners plays in here) and bureaucratic inertia (status quo bias prevails when no one wants to be responsible for a mistake, outbreak or case cluster).
There’s finally some hope on the horizon.
There’s a surplus of vaccines in the U.S. Any American aged 12 and up who wants one can get one. Doses are even on the verge of expiring unused. So tiny Guam – which is just 212 square miles – is turning that surplus into support for its tourism industry while doing good for residents of Asia.
The European Union is recommending that borders be open to Americans, and to residents of several other countries, based on reduction in Covid-19 prevalence in these places. This is separate from the plan to re-open to vaccinated Americans, who – once this change is implemented in the next few days – will be able to visit and move within Schengen zone countries without quarantine. These guidelines – which also now apply to visitors from Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Lebanon, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong – would allow tourists with a negative Covid-19 test regardless of vaccination status. The ban on Americans will be lifted Europe-wide and it’s certainly time to lift restrictions for traveling to the U.S. as well. The U.S. 14 day moving average of cases per 100,000 has moved below 75 and so…
Testing is no longer needed for people entering the U.S., if it was ever helpful at all. The current testing rules do little to assure people entering the U.S. are negative, and it doesn’t prevent spread of variants. Now that vaccines are available there’s little reason to impose the requirement, which has amounted largely to theater – whether it’s people shopping for a negative test after testing positive, or receiving tests that don’t actually collect or analyze a sample.
A man in Sydney, Australia is trolling airline passengers arriving into the city. He’s painted “Welcome to Perth” – which is the capital of Western Australia, and on the other side of the country – onto his roof. Passengers admit being fooled.
In April the U.S. State Department issued ‘Do Not Travel’ warnings for 80% of the world’s countries due to coronavirus risk. They suddenly discovered the pandemic more than three months into 2021.
They updated their guidance to conform to CDC recommendations. But now the CDC has suddenly discovered vaccines – and is updating their guidance, too. The State Department will follow. And a new working group has been formed to talk about lifting travel restrictions where those restrictions are absurd based on the data.
Belarus used a fake bomb threat to justify sending a fighter jet to intercept Ryanair flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania – and force it to land in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. Then, once it was on the ground, they snatched a journalist who had been highly critical of the nation’s strongman leader – and living in exile to avoid just this fate.
Now we know more about what happened as that plane was forced to land, and how the rest of the passengers were treated on the ground.
Greece is already open to Americans. France says it is opening June 9. Spain has said it is opening. Now the European Union has come to an agreement to accept vaccinated visitors this summer, and this is expectted to be passed by member states. The specific re-opening date when Americans will be able to enter without a Covid-19 test or quarantine remains to be set, as countries determine how they plan to verify vaccination.
When I wrote about travel agencies promoting US tour packages to get vaccinated I assumed this was a marginal play, that a few people might be doing it.
However South American carrier and Delta partner LATAM reports this is what’s filling their planes to the U.S. right now.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
