This is yet another great week for tourists since the upliftment of travel restrictions is taking place in Asia- Pacific region. Fiji and Bali recently announced relaxed restrictions in terms of travel reopenings. In terms of travel reopenings, tropical paradises are the best place to visit. Along with that, the Caribbean’s Dominican Republic has also celebrated its best month for tourism ever.
Here is what we have learned about pandemic travel:
You can resume planning your Asia-Pacific Vacation
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous nations which fall under the Asia-Pacific region are drastically shifting away from zero Covid strategies towards living with the virus, and therefore, lifting up their border restrictions.
Singapore was the latest country that added eight new countries, including the US and the UK, to its Vaccinated and quarantine-free travel lanes, on October 10.
The following day, its neighboring Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, ended their domestic and international travel restrictions for those residents who were fully vaccinated. It has reached its target of full immunization for 90% of the adult population.
Indoneian Islands of Bali and Riau
On October 14, Bali and Riau opened their gates for 19 countries by normalizing their restriction policy. Those 19 countries are as follows: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Liechtenstein, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, and Norway.
On October 15, New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet announced that the state, including Sydney, will end its COVID-19 quarantine restrictions for fully vaccinated international travelers commencing from November 1.
By allowing fully vaccinated visitors, Thailand has also moved one step ahead to fully reopening tourism. From allowing fully vaccinated visitors from a small group of countries to bypass quarantine commencing from November 1. The remaining ten countries that successfully made the cut incorporate Singapore, Germany, China, the US, and the UK. On December 1, more countries will get added.
The South Pacific island of Fiji has been closed to international visitors for quite some time now. According to the recent announcements, it will officially reopen on December 1. With its reopening, the resumption of scheduled tourist flights will also progress faster.
Spain Associates With Portugal and France on the CDC’s ‘less risky’ List
Despite being a small win, it still is a big achievement, up to 500 cases per 100,000 people in the last 28 days. But Spain has significantly moved downwards to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC’s) “Level 3: Covid-19 High” category.
On the level 3 list, other popular European tourist destinations have also been added, including Germany, France, Portugal, and Italy.
The level 4 category which includes the highest risk level, the countries include Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Cyprus, and the UK. All nonessential travels are not advisable in these countries. In the whole of Europe, only Madeira Islands and Hungary are the only countries with level 2 category, i.e., moderate.
From November 8 onwards, the fully vaccinated foreign visitors will be able to start entering the US.
The perplexed patchwork of bans incorporates inbound travels to the United States, which is now getting simpler.
Kevin Munoz, White House assistant press secretary, tweeted on October 15: “The US new travel policy that requires vaccination for foreign national travelers to the United States will begin on November 8. This announcement and date apply to both international air travel and land travel.”
A while ago, the White House announced that it initiated to ease the Covid-19 restrictions on travel for the visitors who are fully jabbed. The visitors are allowed to enter the US borders from Mexico and Canada, commencing in early November.
In the first phase of travel restriction upliftment, the fully vaccinated visitors are free to travel across the country for nonessential reasons, including tourism or visiting friends/ relatives, starting in early November. At the same time, the second phase will allow the entry of every fully vaccinated person, beginning from January 2022.
EU Provides Free Rail Passes to 60,000 Young People
Free travel rail passengers are granted to approximately 60,000 European citizens from the age of 18 to 20 by the European Union Commission. The frustrated youngsters who have been cooped up in their houses for so long will get a chance to spread their wings wide enough by taking off on the rail adventures between March 2022 and February 2023 for more than 30 days. The applications for this round are open till October 26.
More Chaos and Cancellations on a US Airline
Amid the pandemic, there were days when mass cancellations on US airlines were very common. This time it was the turn of Southwest. The world’s largest mass cancellation took place on US airlines Spirit and America. Over 2,000 flights have been canceled within three days. The cancellation of mass flights has been blamed on air traffic control issues such as bad weather, limited staffing in Florida, and other recurring issues.
