Spain Is Reopening to All Vaccinated Tourists
Spain has announced that starting from June 7th, all vaccinated tourists with EU-approved vaccines from any country are welcome in Spain. Travelers from 10 low-risk countries are accepted as well. This is a big step for a country that is so tourism-reliant. Since early 2020, the tourism sector has seen a fall of 80%.
Having visited Spain’s Canary Islands in November 2020, I can confirm that the travel needs to be restored as soon as possible. It was hard to see Tenerife, the biggest of Canary islands, so empty with most seafront restaurants closed or simply empty, no lights in hotel windows, and close to nobody on the once so crowded promenade.
COVID-19 Certificates are new passports
The European Commission has announced the implementation of coronavirus certificates which can be presented as QR codes either on paper or on the smartphone screen. This way, the authorities will determine whether the person traveling to their country is vaccinated, got a negative PCR test, or has recovered from Covid.
Many countries have been successful in vaccinating their citizens. My home country Estonia has already opened a vaccination registry for everybody, most people should be able to get at least the first vaccine during June and July. Hopefully, we will not face a third wave during autumn 2021.
Vaccine travel trends
A new trend in the travel industry quickly gaining in popularity is vaccine travel. Lately, lots of travelers from Latin America (especially Peru) have visited the US to get the vaccine. The most popular destinations for vaccine travelers seem to be Florida, Texas, and Arizona.
This is not surprising, considering the fact that some countries have much less possibility to provide vaccination to all their citizens. Even here, in Estonia, many people are traveling to other towns to get the vaccine, due to the limited amount of available time slots in the capital Tallinn.
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