Contents include:

• Climate Action
• European Policy
• Travel Restrictions
• ETOA events and activity

Climate Action

This week, ETOA signed an agreement with Travelife to support climate action for the industry. The first priority will be the joint development of a carbon-focused training and support initiative. This programme will benefit from co-funding provided by COSME, the European Union’s agency for small businesses, and echoes a growing policy planning assumption that the interests of competitiveness and climate action converge. We will share more detailed information shortly.

ETOA is also supporting a wider initiative coordinated by our partner Tourism Declares and others, built on input from multinational organisations, academia, NGOs and industry, to agree a common position ahead of COP26 and set out clear recommendations for practical climate action plans. On 30th September at 10:00 CET / 11:00 BST we will run our next climate-focused webinar. To register your interest, please email the policy team.

For our most recent statement, click here. For more on ETOA and climate, click here.

European Policy

Health Credentials and Borders

The travel restrictions database on our COVID-19 resources page has been reviewed and updated. It reflects member states’ reaction to the EU removing the USA from the recommended ‘white list’, and more EU and EFTA states permitting fully vaccinated travellers from the UK.

Below we have summarised travel protocols applying to fully vaccinated travellers from the UK and USA. For intra-EU/EFTA travel and from other non-EU countries please see our travel restrictions database which shows where travel is permitted for tourism without quarantine, depending on the designated colour/risk category by destination country. For any questions or comments, please email the policy team.

Travel from the USA
As of 9th September the following applies (please continue to verify information by checking the respective government inbound webpages found in our database):

Fully vaccinated US nationals and EU citizens resident in the USA are permitted for tourism without quarantine or testing arriving into the following EU/EFTA states:

Austria, Belgium (stays less than 48 hours), Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary (arriving by land only), Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg (may change), Malta (CDC record card required to be verified by VeriFLY app), Poland, Portugal (Madeira only), Romania, Slovakia (pre-arrival PCR test may become required), Slovenia, Spain (mainland, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands), Sweden (only arriving direct from Nordic country), Switzerland

Fully vaccinated US nationals and EU citizens resident in the USA are permitted for tourism without quarantine but subject to additional testing arriving into the following EU/EFTA states and all nations of the United Kingdom:

Cyprus (random testing on arrival), Hungary (arriving by air), Iceland (unless recovered within 180 days), Italy, Portugal (mainland and Azores), Sweden (arriving from EU/EFTA excluding Nordic countries)

Fully vaccinated US nationals and EU citizens resident in the USA are no longer permitted for tourism or subject to quarantine at the present time arriving into the following EU/EFTA states:

Bulgaria,
Netherlands (transiting and stays less than 12 hours permitted and exempt from quarantine),
Belgium (stays greater than 48 hours – quarantine until result of PCR test on day 1 after arrival, recovered persons within 180 days exempt from testing/quarantine),
Norway (EU citizens resident in the USA who have been issued an EU DCC from their country of nationality are permitted),
Sweden (arriving direct from USA for US nationals, transiting EU/EFTA if pass through immigration is permitted)

We are waiting for clarification arriving into Luxembourg (EU citizens resident in the USA would still be permitted).

Travel from the UK
As of 9 September the following applies (please continue to verify information by checking the respective government inbound webpages found in our database):

Fully vaccinated UK nationals and EU citizens resident in the UK are permitted for tourism without quarantine or testing arriving into the following EU/EFTA states:

Austria, Belgium (stays less than 48 hours, Scottish non-QR code vaccine certificate not accepted), Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary (arriving by land only), Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Norway (Scottish non-QR code vaccine certificate not accepted), Poland, Portugal (Madeira only), Romania, Slovenia, Spain (mainland, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands), Sweden (only arriving direct from Nordic country), Switzerland

Fully vaccinated UK nationals and EU citizens resident in the UK are permitted for tourism without quarantine but subject to additional testing arriving into the following EU/EFTA states:

Croatia, Cyprus (random testing on arrival), Hungary (arriving by air), Iceland (unless recovered within 180 days), Italy, Portugal (mainland and Azores), Slovakia, Sweden (arriving from EU/EFTA excluding Nordic countries)

Fully vaccinated UK nationals and EU citizens resident in the UK are no longer permitted for tourism or subject to quarantine at the present time arriving into the following EU/EFTA states:

Bulgaria,
Luxembourg (EU citizens resident in the UK still permitted)
Netherlands (transiting and stays less than 12 hours permitted and exempt from quarantine),
Belgium (stays greater than 48 hours – quarantine until result of PCR test on day 1 after arrival, recovered persons within 180 days exempt from testing/quarantine),
Sweden (arriving direct from UK for UK nationals, transiting EU/EFTA if pass through immigration is permitted)

Future of Tourism in Europe

There is still a chance to contribute to European Commission’s ‘transition pathway for tourism’ that will lead to a policy framework intended to promote and support sectoral resilience from sustainability to digital transition, skills to financial protection. The consultation closes on 15th September: have your say here.

ETOA Member Drop-In: 28th September 14:00 BST/15:00 CEST

Members are encouraged to share this opportunity with colleagues to help raise awareness of ETOA services. Drop-Ins are a chance to​​ meet some of the ETOA team and other ETOA members and discuss issues affecting your business and ask questions.

For more information, the dates of other Member-Drop Ins and registration please follow this link.

ETOA Travel Trade Masterclass

France ETOA Masterclass has taken place on the 8th September 2021. Three operators with different business models and origin markets have shared insights about product and clientele diversification, work relationship with hoteliers and the needs they have especially during the pandemic. The recording of the masterclass is available here.

For DMOs and NTOs interested in collaborating with ETOA to develop the supply-chain’s industry knowledge and encourage product diversification, please contact us at policy@etoa.org.

Any contractors, product development specialists or others willing to add their insight on behalf of the wider buyer membership (and potentially have exposure to a new range of suppliers) are also invited to get in touch.

Upcoming Events

Focus on South Korea On 16th September at 8.00 BST / 9:00 CET / 16:00 KST we will host a webinar exploring the potential of Korea as a growing origin market for Europe, with a strong interest in group travel. We will be joined by speakers from partners ECCK, ETC, NTC as well as Turismo de Portugal and private-sector players. For more information and registration, click here.

Registration for the Global European Marketplace + Relaunch ’22 is open, combining our flagship in-person event in London on 29th October with an online workshop on 30th November to maximise opportunity for member suppliers and buyers alike.

Partner event: Travel Tech Show

Are you ready to learn something new? The fully virtual conference programme for TravelTech Show, taking place on 14-15 September is now online. To provide you with the right content and as much value as possible, the sessions are split in three streams to reflect the unique challenges you face.

Insight Hub

Check our latest statistics, opinion and research pieces on the Insight Hub.

ALVA tracker wave 9
The 9th wave of sentiment tracker looking at the views of the attractions-going population in the UK.

Eurostat short stay accommodation bookings
Headline results from newly available data on bookings made in 2018 and 2019 across four major Collaborative Economy booking platforms within the EU, revealing that in 2019 the number of nights booked was 14% up on the year before at 554 million.  Spain, France and Italy are shown to be the countries within the EU27 seeing the largest volume of nights booked via these platforms.

ETC Sentiment Wave 7
The seventh wave of online research looking at the extent to which Europeans are planning travel, their concerns and what factors are likely to influence behaviour.  With fieldwork during May, the study found sentiment to have improved markedly compared with the previous wave, continuing the trend from the most recent survey waves.

Tour Operator Support for ETOA during 2021

The last 18 months have tested the industry as never before. ETOA’s own team reduced in size and focused its efforts to support its members through action and information: we continue to handle a wide variety of queries, especially about travel restrictions. As well as our supplier members, we are very grateful to operators who have supported us financially during 2021. Voluntary contributions are still welcome. If you wish, please click here to log-on to your account and select the voluntary contribution link at top of the page. Thank you.

Member information with ETOA

If you have not done so already, please review your company information via this link. To see whom ETOA currently holds as the ‘main contact’ check your listing via this link (you will need to be logged in to see all the information).

Meanwhile, please continue to send any comments you may have about the website to: policy@etoa.org