England announced in February that other regions soon followed that essentially banned all non-essential foreign travel from March 8, 2021 (read more here), and flights from four additional countries were banned yesterday (read more here), including Qatar.

Domestic leisure stays are banned until May 17, and there were some hopes that international travel would be allowed roughly at the same time or, at least, by the summer, but that is starting to look unlikely based on signals coming out from the country.

The International Olympic Committee, Tokyo Olympic, and Paralympic games have decided that they would not allow international spectators in the 2020 Tokyo games held in 2021 due to the pandemic delay.

The Japanese government had already signaled earlier that allowing foreign visitors during the Olympics would not be feasible, and the decision by the Olympic Committee just made it now official.

Thailand’s The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on Friday released a roadmap of how the country would gradually open up for tourism arrivals in three stages.

Thailand has already been open for many nationals with a mandatory two-week hotel quarantine regardless of vaccination or previous Covid-19 infection.

Iceland yesterday announced that it would welcome today non-EU/Schengen nationals from countries such as the United States or the UK if they can prove prior Covid-19 infection or have been vaccinated (read more here).

Icelandair sent out a communication today making it clear that this exemption won’t open a backdoor for non-residents of Schengen/EU/EEA to enter the bloc.

Australia and New Zealand have hinted about a possible travel bubble pretty much since the Covid-19 pandemic started last year, but nothing has come out of the talks between the governments.

Kiwis have been welcomed to many Australian states, although this was briefly disrupted in January due to a spike in Covid-19 cases in New Zealand. They must have gone through the guarantee when returning home, however.

Today, the European Commission made public their proposal for a Digital Green Certificate, better known as Covid-19 passport, that would facilitate travel within European Union without quarantines and extra tests.

The plan is to have an app or paper version that other member states could verify that would include information about vaccination, previously had Covid-19 infection or recently conducted PCR-RT or other tests that would prove negativity.

Iceland, a country whose economy is highly dependent on international visitors, will reopen its borders for visitors with proof of previous Covid-19 infection or vaccination from Thursday (March 18, 2021).

This opens up the country for visitors outside of the European Union/EEA, including those from the United States and the UK. The government accepts various proofs of vaccination or Covid-19 recovery.

A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us details of a semi-maddening experience flying on TMA (Trans Maldivian Airlines) who have started to more carefully weigh bags.

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China is restarting issuing visas in Hong Kong & Macao on March 15, 2021, for those inoculated with Chinese-made Covid-19 vaccines.

The visas are issued for business/work-related purposes and those who need one on urgent humanitarian grounds.

Greece intends to have a summer tourism sector in 2021, although all domestic flights are currently banned until March 16 and international ones until March 22.

The country plans to allow select tourism arrivals from the Schengen area from April and reopen for wider arrivals from May 14, 2021.

A reader dropped a note to a Chinese publication that was referring to Hong Kong-based SCMP that indicates that China is likely to keep its borders closed for international arrivals until mid-2022.

The country won’t reach herd-immunity through vaccinations before mid-2022 and likely won’t allow international arrivals without quarantine until then to prevent sparks in imported Covid-19 cases.

The Japanese government has decided this week that the once delayed 2020 Olympics that are set to start in late July 2021 will be without overseas spectators.

It has been unclear whether the Olympics will go forward due to the Japanese public opinion being negative against holding them at all.

Many countries and blocs are in the process of releasing their vaccination and healthcare passes that could reopen the international travel for those vaccinated or with Covid-19 antibodies.

China on Tuesday introduced their electronic one on the WeChat Mini-platform and the traditional paper ones.