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forbes.com: Restaurants, bars and cafes in France are ready to reopen from 9 June. Spain opened its borders on Monday to all vaccinated travellers, as has Greece, while the rest of Europe prepares to receive tourists cautiously as soon as the first day of July.
Although the continent is still far from eradicating the COVID-19 virus, vaccination campaigns are rolling out fast, testing is easily available and the European Commission has gone live with the technical system at the EU level “to allow verifying certificates (COVID-passports) in a secure and privacy-friendly way,” a press release announced.
The issue of a Green Pass common to all the countries of the bloc will permit free border crossing starting 1 July.
“The EU Digital COVID Certificate will facilitate safe, free movement of citizens in the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic,” explains the European Commission, adding that “countries can start issuing and using it already and it will become available in all EU Member States as of 1 July 2021.”
In fact, seven countries already have kicked off implementation of the Green Passport a month ahead of the deadline, the Schengen Visa Info reported.
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Croatia and Poland started issuing the first EU COVID-19 travel certificates, while most of the other countries will join in coming days.
Some of the most popular destinations such as Greece and Italy have already seen increases in bookings while Spain, which started opening to visitors this week, hopes to recover up to 70% of its pre-pandemic tourism levels.
