Prime Minister Mario Draghi said the country is gearing to have a health pass ready later this month that will facilitate travel ahead of Europe’s June target.
Progress on national vaccination campaigns
The leaders exchanged views on the epidemiological situation in their countries, on the progress of national vaccination campaigns and on the development of the Digital Green Certificate, which will facilitate cross-border movements at European level.
The Prime Minister analyzed the moves made by Greece in the context of the controlled and gradual restart of the economy and social activities, such as the opening of retail stores with click away and click-in-shop methods, the reopening of food service in open spaces and the successful utilization of self-tests, which has further strengthened Greece’s ability to detect cases in a timely manner.
The government has said that travellers returning from green list countries under its traffic light system this summer will still need to pay for tests. Previous Which? research has found private test requirements can add hundreds of pounds to the cost of a trip.
From 17 May the government plans to operate a traffic light system of red, amber and green for all countries and individual islands. That date remains dependent on health data, and is the earliest international travel can resume. When the traffic light system is launched the current ban on non-essential travel will be removed.
Countries and islands will be assigned colours based on a range of Covid-19 health metrics, including vaccination numbers and infection rates. Variants and the ability of the country to identify variants will also be considered.
The Dream: International Travel. The Reality: Chaos and Confusion.
The world beckons, especially for those who have been vaccinated, but would-be travelers face a difficult moment when travel possibilities are at odds with the facts of a still reeling world.
A sign in front of the Louvre in Paris last June announced the museum’s closure. It is currently still closed to the public. Credit.Thomas Samson/Agence France-Presse Getty Images
May 5, 2021Updated 10:51 a.m. ET
In recent days, a steady stream of promising news has painted a rosy picture of the return of international leisure travel.
But the optimism may be premature. At the moment, the broader reality is more chaotic, and more sobering.
G20 tourism ministers pledge support for safe int l mobility initiatives
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Ministers of Tourism from the Group of 20, or the G20, on Tuesday pledged support for safe international mobility initiatives as a way to help relaunch the world s tourism sector.
The ministers agreed that a normalized global tourism industry was crucial to the world s economic recovery in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Italian Minister of Tourism Massimo Garavaglia told reporters after the day-long virtual meeting of ministers from the G20, which groups 19 countries and the European Union (EU).
The meeting agreed to back efforts for safe mobility that coordinates with regional and national initiatives, such as the EU-launched Digital Green Certificate, which shows a person has been fully vaccinated, has coronavirus immunity after recovering from an infection, or has recently tested negative for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.