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

The U.S. travel trade was left scrambling to respond to the European Union's decision last week to remove the U.S. from its "safe travel" list due to the recent rise in Covid cases.

Confusion ran rampant immediately following the announcement, which was not "legally binding," according to the EU Council, with each EU member country left to decide whether to ramp up restrictions on U.S. inbound travel.

An online infographic shared by the council indicated that the EU continued to support travel by those who are fully vaccinated, suggesting that unvaccinated travellers would likely bear the brunt of any resulting policy changes. However, the Netherlands is now requiring vaccinated U.S. travellers to quarantine for 10 days, effectively snuffing leisure tourism from the U.S.…

…Tour operators have also had to proactively engage in customer outreach. Collette, which had already announced that it would require that all travellers on international tours be fully vaccinated starting Sept. 1, put out a statement assuring clients that the company's EU itineraries would continue to operate.

"Our guests are fully vaccinated, and our team continues to do its due diligence in vetting every aspect of travel within the European Union, while adhering to necessary testing and guidance that has been set forth," said Collette CEO Dan Sullivan Jr. in a release. Read more on TravelWeekly.com