Italy: Can tourists still travel from the US?

Rome: EU drops US from covid safe travel list but what exactly does this mean for American tourists who wish to visit Italy?

This is the question on the minds of many American tourists after the European Union dropped the US from its safe travel list due to rising covid-19 infections there, driven by the Delta variant of the virus.

The EU recommended on Monday that travel restrictions on tourists from the United States be reinstated, just months after US travellers were allowed to re-enter the EU at the start of the summer tourism season.

The EU recommendation is non-binding, meaning that the 27 member states each retain the option of allowing entry to fully-vaccinated visitors for non-essential travel.

However unvaccinated tourists are likely to face tighter controls such as covid testing and quarantine or they may even be barred from travelling entirely.

The EU Council stated that its non-binding travel guidance is issued “without prejudice to the possibility for member states to lift the temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU for fully vaccinated travellers”, and that the list “will continue to be reviewed regularly and, as the case may be, updated.”

The move coincides with Italy scrapping a mandatory five-day quarantine for fully-vaccinated travellers from the UK, who show a negative covid test, with effect from 31 August.

In addition to the US, five other countries were removed from the EU covid “white list” of places whose tourists should be permitted entry without travel restrictions: Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and the Republic of North Macedonia.

The EU white list now includes: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Japan, Jordan, New Zealand, Qatar, Republic of Moldova, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Ukraine, and China (subject to confirmation of reciprocity).