European Commission issues guidance on safely resuming travel and rebooting tourism
The Commission has presented a package of guidelines and recommendations to help Member States gradually lift travel restrictions and allow tourism businesses to reopen, after months of lockdown, while respecting necessary health precautions.
The Commission's guidance aims to offer people the chance to get some well-needed rest, relaxation and fresh air. As soon as the health situation allows, people should be able to catch up with friends and family, in their own EU country or across borders, with all the safety and precautionary measures needed in place.
The package also aims to help the EU tourism sector recover from the pandemic, by supporting businesses and ensuring that Europe continues to be the number one destination for visitors.
The Commission's Tourism and Transport package includes:
- An overall strategy(link is external) towards recovery in 2020 and beyond;
- A common approach(link is external) to restoring free movement and lifting restrictions at EU internal borders in a gradual and coordinated way;
- A framework(link is external) to support the gradual re-establishment of transport whilst ensuring the safety of passengers and personnel;
- A recommendation(link is external) which aims to make travel vouchers an attractive alternative to cash reimbursement for consumers;
- Criteria(link is external) for restoring tourism activities safely and gradually and for developing health protocols for hospitality establishments such as hotels.
For tourists and travellers
The Commission is looking to give people the ability, confidence and safety to travel again with the following measures:
- Safely restoring freedom of movement and lifting internal border controls
- Restoring transport services across the EU while protecting the health of transport workers and passengers
- Safely resuming tourism services
- Ensuring cross-border interoperability of tracing apps.
- Making vouchers a more attractive option for consumers
For tourism businesses
The Commission aims to support Europe's tourism sector by:
- Ensuring liquidity for tourism businesses, in particular SMEs, through flexibility under State aid rules and EU funding
- Saving jobs with up to €100 billion in financial relief from the SURE programme
- Connecting citizens to local tourism offer, promoting local attractions and tourism and Europe as a safe tourist destination,
For more information, see the press release here.
Author: Richard Adams
