COVID Summer Travel? There’s An App For That

Internal borders within the European Union, which were abruptly shut during the early stages of the Coronavirus crisis, are reopening today. At the Belgian-French border, which is normally as invisible as the border between two U.S. states, people are celebrating their ability to once again leave their country.

Although uncertainties remain for Sweden and the U.K., which is still part of the EU legal structure until a Brexit transition period ends this year, the European Commission says that all of the EU’s internal borders will be back open by the end of this month. But things aren’t as simple as they might seem, because countries can still ban flights from specific airports within the EU, even if technically their borders are open to that country.

The Commission is desperate to save the EU’s tourism sector, which accounts for 10% of its economic output, so they are encouraging people to take summer vacations. But they acknowledge that there are still many uncertainties about where and when people can travel. So today they have launched a website called “Re-open EU”, which will provide up-to-the-minute information about travel restrictions and public health measures. The idea is that people thinking about taking vacations can use the tool to determine whether it is possible and/or desirable to go. A smartphone app version will be available soon.

The app will tell people whether the destination is accepting flights from your airport, whether public transport is running there, whether face masks are required everywhere, how many people you can meet there and whether tourist sites and museums are open. Probably most of interest to travellers will be the update on whether restaurants, bars, clubs and beaches are open. The information will be in all 23 official EU languages, saving travellers the hassle of trying to translate national tourism web sites.

The app will also tell people the latest health information, so they know what kind of risk of infection they may be taking with their vacation. It will allow users to indicate the level of risk they are willing to accept, and then take a decision about where to go.

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The Commission says the current information on the website is in a pilot phase and the tool will be improved as time goes on. They are reliant on the information provided by EU national governments, a spokesperson said, so the tool can only work if national governments are forthcoming.

“User feedback is extremely useful. We would encourage you to provide us and your member state with your comments so that website can be improved as much as possible,” he said.

The Commission requested that all EU national governments reopen their borders with other EU countries by today. “Most member states have done so,” a spokesperson said today.

But several countries have notably not. Denmark has only opened its borders to Germany, Iceland and Norway, and the Danish government is very wary of the idea of opening borders to neighboring Sweden, which has the highest proportion of COVID infections in Europe at the moment. Sweden was the only country in Europe not to go into lockdown during the crisis.

For the moment, the U.K. has not been included in the Re-Open EU tool. They are welcome to participate, a spokesperson said, but the UK government has so far not signalled a desire to do so.

The EU’s external borders remain closed, but the Commission said last week that a gradual re-opening will begin from 1 July. They are currently drafting a list of countries where the health situation would permit such reopening. Greece is the only EU country to so far announce that it will start reopening to countries that are not in the EU or the European Free Trade Area. It is planning to allow people in from a handful of countries including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China and South Korea.

It is unlikely that any EU country will open their borders to travellers from the United States before September at the earliest because of the health situation there, according to EU sources.