‘Dozens of countries from orange to yellow: holidays outside Europe are allowed again’ | Inland

On Wednesday morning, about 30 popular destinations are reportedly going to be yellow, after which other countries will follow. What those are is not entirely clear. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot anticipate this.

Since the start of the corona crisis, travel advice has been linked to the corona figures. That meant that almost the whole world turned orange. This meant that only necessary trips were possible and sweet trips such as holidays were strongly discouraged.

That situation already changed last summer when the orange code for the EU expired. However, very little was possible outside the Union. Only a single country turned yellow. At the moment, some South American countries are on yellow, just like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea and Rwanda.

Old travel advice restored

From Wednesday, the old travel advice, so without corona, will be reinstated. This means that only countries where there is danger or where, for example, a natural disaster has occurred, will turn orange or red. Presumably, code orange will also continue to apply to countries where you are really not welcome.

New Zealand is an example of a country where the border is closed to foreign travelers. It is not clear what this is about for countries where only certain groups are welcome, such as students or military personnel. There may be a separate corona advice.

Sources from the travel world are jubilant about the imminent relaxation. The industry was very much in hopes against the orange blanket that had been rolled out across the world. There was even a lawsuit about it last fall, but the advice remained. That had everything to do with it being advice and not a rule set in stone.

Many travelers and travel organizations therefore increasingly ignored the advice. For example, large tour operators simply carried out holidays to countries such as Cape Verde and The Gambia, and countless travelers with specialists left for countries such as Costa Rica, Colombia and Mexico. More and more insurers also took this into account.

Much more carefree when traveling

The fact that they can now travel a lot more carefree can nevertheless count on applause. The expectation is that there will now be a run on long journeys. “I expect that it will rain yellow advice,” said one person involved.

However, the insiders are disappointed that the test obligation continues to exist for people who travel back to the Netherlands after a holiday. After all, that means that they could suddenly go into quarantine in the country where they are located.

It also costs quite a bit if you have to test an entire family on location. “While we are allowed to celebrate carnival and enter a stadium with 50,000 people. But after a trip you suddenly have to test. I don’t understand the logic; it is not for nothing that Belgium and the United Kingdom have renounced that obligation,” grumbles one person involved.

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