In what has been the most positive developments amid this testing times of COVID19, Europe has allowed visitors of the supposed 15 ‘safe’ countries. This means that the EU border has been opened for 15 non EU countries which include Canada, Morocco, and Australia. However, the US, Brazil and Russia are omitted from the list. Therefore, this opens up a very small window of luxury travel for the globetrotters of these countries.
Interestingly, China is one the list albeit there is a reciprocal agreement, still pending.
Another important thing to note is that this unanimous decision by the European Council is not legally binding. This gives the flexibility and authority the choice of not opening up to all those countries. After much mulling and debating the list, the the so-called “safe travel destinations” which have been underlined are, besides China: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.
Along with these countries, the UK and other non-EU states – Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway – are automatically included as “safe”.
As per the EU officials, the various scientific which have been taken in consideration are:
- The Covid-19 infection rate in the country stays low enough meaning the countries where nations had fewer than 16 in every 100,000 infected
- A downward spiral in the number of cases
- Social distancing is followed and that the measures were at “a sufficient level”
The decision has not been as straightforward as it looks as there was much lobbying followed by a series of debate with regard to the effect of this move in the socio economic factors. The omitted countries within the EU pushed hard their agenda in a bid to revive their economy.
It is truly and very well understood that this is not the time for countries like India to pop their champagne. Yet, there is a ray of hope that the culture of tour and travel in the luxury destinations is very much on the rebound. This is a significant change in the hapless times. Moreover, the luxury travel operators in Gurgaon are having staff which are COVID qualified i.e. they can provide all the information prior to travel with regard to safety concerns, the protocols to follow etc. For now, you just need to sit back and stay safe as international travel is now within the touching distance.
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