Since March 2020, non-essential travel to the 27-member European Union has been banned, apart from a small number of countries deemed safe because of their low Covid-19 case rate. But businesses on the continent are reopening as virus restrictions are phased out and bars, hotels and restaurants are worried about the summer tourist trade.

Diplomats said that, under the new rules, travellers who could demonstrate that they had received the required number of doses of an EU-approved vaccine (which include those made by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson) could enter the bloc.

The commission also proposed permitting EU member nations to decide individually whether to admit travellers immunised with vaccines approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use, which include the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.

Coronavirus: EU eyes reopening to fully vaccinated travellers

In addition, the number of cases per 100,000 people that a country could register over two weeks and still be considered for the green list will rise from 25 to 75. This would still exclude non-vaccinated travellers from much of the world, but could soon allow blanket travel from, for example, Britain, which is advanced in its vaccination campaign.

The current green list has only seven countries: Australia, Israel, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand, plus China, if Beijing agrees to reciprocate.

“Travel restrictions should also be gradually lifted for the special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau, subject to confirmation of reciprocity,” according to the European Commission’s “Travel during the coronavirus pandemic” web page.

The bloc looks set to expand the green list to include other countries with low infection rates, from where people could arrive with or without being vaccinated.

Member states also agreed to set up a coordinated emergency mechanism to rapidly suspend arrivals from a non-EU country stricken by the sudden appearance of a new variant.

Nevertheless, as it opens up to the rest of the world, the EU is struggling to establish a common health certificate that would allow people to travel more freely within the bloc. The so-called “green certificate” was supposed to be operational from June and ease movement for those who could show they’d been vaccinated, had a negative test, or been through an infection. But negotiations to finalise the scheme between the European Parliament, member states and the bloc’s executive have made slow progress.

A further round of discussions is scheduled for today as talks stumble on demands from lawmakers for tests to be free or their cost capped. The delay is causing major concerns for some countries as they are desperate to free up travel before the vital summer season in a bid to revive battered tourism sectors.

Meanwhile, some 50,000 tourism professionals from around the globe gathered in Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday for a five-day fair, one of the first such in-person events in Europe in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Organisers are expecting to welcome 100,000 visitors before the FITUR International Tourism Fair closes on Sunday, half of them members of the public who will have access to the event during the weekend.

“It’s important to take part, it’s the first in-person fair taking place in Europe,” said Aleksandra Desyatskova, of the Saint Petersburg-based Tari Travel. “It’s always better to communicate and do business in person,” added Desyatskova, who was on her first business trip out of Russia since the start of the pandemic.

Still, the number of people attending the fair this year was greatly reduced because of the virus outbreak, with virtually no festivities or events held. Last year’s fair took place in January, just before the pandemic hit, and attracted nearly 260,000 people.

“We depend heavily on the European market and as such we couldn’t miss this,” said Toni Chaves, head of the hotel association at Riviera Maya, near Cancun in Mexico. “And this is also a way of showing that it’s now possible and necessary to once again hold in-person events.”

Because of the pandemic, some of the conferences and debates, as well as some meetings among professionals, will be held online, organisers said.

China has limited its participation this year to representatives living in Spain because of travel restrictions.

Additional reporting by staff reporter