Travel advisors reassure clients, but will EU guidance have chilling effect?: Travel Weekly

UPDATE: This report was updated on September 6 with information about the Netherlands, which is putting US visitors to a 10-day quarantine.

The US travel trade had to respond to the European Union’s decision last week to remove the US from its “safe travel” list due to the recent surge in Covid cases.

Immediately after the announcement, which according to the EU Council was not “legally binding”, there was confusion, with each EU member state having to decide whether to tighten restrictions on US entry requirements.

An online infographic shared by the Council showed that the EU continues to support travel by fully vaccinated people, suggesting that unvaccinated travelers would likely bear the brunt of the resulting policy changes. However, the Netherlands is now demanding that vaccinated US travelers be quarantined for 10 days in order to effectively prevent recreational tourism from the US

Unnecessary pause

Trafalgar CEO Gavin Tollman writes that this latest wave of Covid is unnecessary and that makes him angry.

An EU official told Travel Weekly that if member states allow currently vaccinated travelers, they can continue to do so. At the same time, members who do not require vaccinations for travelers would not be required to change their policy.

Jack Ezon, founder and managing partner of New York travel agency Embark Beyond, reported that many customers in Europe were concerned about the postponement of advice and that Embark acted quickly to allay their fears.

“Every article out there says, ‘it can ban it’ [travel]’And customers read that and then they panic, “Ezon said.” We have to go out there and say,’ Yeah, they put us on the Red List ‘but then explain what that means. “And essentially, it’s a suggestion.”

Italy tightened its rules following the EU’s announcement: travelers coming to Italy from the US, including those who have been vaccinated, must show a negative Covid test 72 hours before entry. Until now, fully vaccinated travelers did not need a test to enter.

Travelers who cannot show proof of vaccination or Covid recovery must be quarantined for five days and then take a test.
A number of Embark customers, and especially those with unvaccinated travel companions, were rushing to move their European travel dates forward to get to the region “before the doors close,” Ezon said.

Phillip Archer, founder and chief experience designer at Roaming Richly Travel, based in San Francisco, said he has been inundated with customer calls since the EU guidelines were changed.

Travel europe

Travel Weekly has compiled immigration information for countries open to US visitors.

Last week he released an email to allay customers’ concerns, claiming that it would “seem extreme” for EU member states to completely ban incoming US travel. A wave of “travel requirements that better mitigate risk, such as pre-travel and during-travel testing, including for vaccinated people,” appears to be much more likely, he wrote.

The infographic presented by the Council on who is allowed to enter the EU divides its proposals on immigrants into three main categories: Fully vaccinated travelers who are still allowed to travel to the block (including children who are too young to be vaccinated, if you had a negative Covid test), followed by “essential travelers” and then “non-essential travelers from countries on the EU list”, which apply to “all travelers” from this country.

The EU reviews its recommendations for the list every two weeks. The criteria for removing countries from the Safe Travel List included that a country had no more than 75 new Covid cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days.

On August 27, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control reported that the US had registered about 600 new Covid cases per 100,000 in the two weeks ended August 22.

The EU official, who spoke to Travel Weekly, said the purpose of the council’s recommendations was to try to align the policies of EU members as much as possible. But here, too, the situation for incoming travelers is more fluid than ever, as it is up to each country to determine its guidelines.

Julia Simpson, CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council, criticized the EU recommendation and called it “a step backwards”.

“It is crucial that we need a common set of rules that recognizes global vaccines and makes quarantine superfluous for people with a negative Covid result,” she said.

Tour operators also had to be proactive in addressing customers. Collette, who had previously announced that all travelers on international tours must be fully vaccinated from September 1st, issued a statement assuring customers that the company’s EU travel routes would continue to work.

“Our guests are fully vaccinated and our team continues to carefully review all aspects of travel within the European Union while adhering to the necessary tests and guidelines,” said Dan Sullivan Jr., CEO of Collette in a publication.

Tour operator Walks, part of the City Experiences brand of the Hornblower Group, has also stepped up its customer communication efforts, keeping guests informed of any changes and answering questions on its blog and social media platforms, said the president and founder of Walks , Stephen Oddo.

I have a feeling that many of my clients who started planning European trips are now waiting until we know more about certain countries.– Travel Advisor Margie Hand

“Our guests usually have questions about the effects and want to know the latest travel guidelines and requirements. So far we haven’t seen any increased cancellation rates or lower booking rates, ”said Oddo, describing Italy’s new arrival policy as“ a very light change ”.

However, others in the travel sector are already feeling the effects of the announcement by the EU more clearly. Daniel Scher, travel consultant at Strong Travel Services, a Dallas-based Virtuoso agency, said the EU’s move had “stalled” its European business.

The EU’s announcement “will make people who are still on the rise about travel think again,” added Scher.

Margie Hand, a subsidiary of Andavo Travel based in Birmingham, Alabama, was also concerned about the uncertainty caused by the EU guidelines.

“I have a feeling that many of my clients who started planning European trips will now wait until we know more about certain countries,” said Hand. “This adds another wrinkle to agents at an already difficult time.”

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