Breaking news coming from Canada as the government has just released their plan to allow vaccinated U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents into the country starting August 9, 2021.
Additionally fully vaccinated International visitors are scheduled to be allowed back into Canada from September 7, 2021 and all entries will be subject to certain control measures.
The land border between the U.S. and Canada has now been locked down for regular crossing since March of 2020, always extended on a monthly basis and July 21st is the next time a decision has to be made.
Political pressure mounts on both sides of the border to find a solution but Canada’s government will have none of it so far, holding out for a 75-85% vaccination rate that will likely never materialize.
New Zealand has just announced the immediate pause to the trans-Tasman COVID-19 travel bubble with Australia, bringing this to a burst just shortly after it was started.
The NZ government has announced it will pause the travel bubble between all Australian states and territories for three days beginning from 8:30PM AEST on Saturday.
A Canadian MP has just charged that the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) might have based their decision allowing airlines to deny customers Billions of dollars in refunds on the advise of a lobbyist.
While Canada maintains a rather clean bill of health on the Corruption Perception Index a lot of this dirty business takes place through lobbying and backdoor deals between government figures and certain benefactors.
Despite positive signs in the past few weeks that the land border crossings between Canada and the U.S. would reopen following the most recent extension of the closure, these hopes have now evaporated.
Government officials in Canada have confirmed to the media that the border won’t reopen despite a hard push by local politicians and the business community.
Since April of 2020 the U.S. – Canada land border effectively shut down, only letting their respective citizens in, but this could finally change after the current extension period ends on June 21st.
According to news reports the political pressure both in the U.S. as well as in Canada has grown to a level where provincial leaders, Premiers and Governors are demanding an end of the border closure.
The Canadian border (land and air) will remain closed to non-essential travel for yet another month, extending the current measures through at least June 21, 2021.
Most foreign visitors are still not allowed to enter Canada and a 14-day quarantine requirement is imposed for those that do, including Canadian citizens.
Italy is the most recent European country where U.S. travelers can travel to without restrictions such as a quarantine as long as they arrive on the special “Covid Free” flights operated by American and Delta Air Lines.
To fly on these “COVID-tested” flights from the U.S. to Italy, all customers are required to complete mandatory testing, both before departure and on arrival, regardless of their vaccination status.
The next Southern European country to opening for tourism this month is Portugal which will welcomes most EU/UK tourists effective tomorrow, Monday the 17th of May.
As the summer season comes closer several countries in the EU bloc are opening their door to tourists once again, both from continental Europe and the UK but a PCR test result is still required to travel.
Greece has finally ended their national lockdown measures and at the same time opened for the 2021 tourist season, hoping to welcome a load of visitors to rejuvenate the decimated hospitality industry.
Greece still has several restrictions in place and an average of 2,000 daily Covid cases are still being reported, vaccinations are being rolled out.
In light of the deteriorating Covid-19 situation in India U.S. President Biden has signed an order banning most travel from India to the U.S. effective May 4, 2021.
The travel ban won’t apply to U.S. citizens or permanent residents and their spouses and goes into effect on May 4 with those who fall under the exemptions still being allowed to travel to the U.S. after the restrictions go into effect.
Just two days into the new AUS/NZ travel bubble an Auckland, New Zealand airport worker who was responsible for cleaning incoming aircraft has tested positive for the Coronavirus.
The man has previously received both vaccine doses as per New Zealand authorities and is currently being treated according to health protocols.
Back in February John wrote about advertisement by airlines (in that case BA) to fly for leisure travel despite closed borders in the specific markets and this practice is still going on today.
I constantly receive emails for example from Singapore Airlines this week where they sent offers for one way flights to destinations such as Singapore where entry isn’t possible at the moment.
The Canadian border (land and air) will remain closed to non-essential travel for yet another month, extending the current measures through at least April 21, 2021.
Most foreign visitors are still not allowed to enter Canada and a 14-day quarantine requirement is imposed for those that do, including Canadian citizens.
