Spain and Greece mull opening to tourists

No surprise as they, probably more than many countries in Europe rely heavily on tourism. As we saw last year, places can open up and close again with little notice if Covid spikes start appearing. Let’s hope mainland Europe starts to ramp up its vaccination programme to give everybody more confidence and safety.

I miss Greece. Can't wait to spend some travel $ there once again. Have vax, will travel.

Well, I'm booked to land in Athens on September 20th. Hopefully US residents will be free to enter by then. Can't wait!!!!!

While this sounds hopeful, I agree with Jennifer. There's no way I'm traveling to either Spain or Greece (or Texas) until I see the numbers I need to see which show me that herd immunity is on the horizon because they are vaccinating, vaccinating, vaccinating.

For the typical American tourist who doesn't go to Europe primarily to lie on the beach, I think it's important to dig into the details as countries begin to open up. Although I can entertain myself for a while by walking around the historic districts of the cities I visit, I also want to be able to go to some of the local museums. I already have three cities on my list of places I have to return to, because museums important to me were closed when I initially visited. I want to be sure the indoor attractions are open and not so capacity-controlled that it's difficult to get tickets to a lot of places.

I'm somewhat concerned that an early opening to cater to the sun-and-sand crowd could increase the infection rate and ultimately cause re-closing of museums, restaurants and the like.

An article in Spain’s El Pais indicated the late spring date as being for European tourists, not those from the U.S.; that date was later in the year. At least things are looking up. Today, Spain’s Ministry of Health reported 2,874 new cases in the last 24 hours. That number +/- has been fairly consistent over the past couple weeks, but is still significantly higher than last summer’s numbers.

More countries to follow sooner rather than later.

Debbie Downer is beginning her retreat.

Just spent four days in Austin with our baseball team. Had a great time and zero problems COVID or otherwise. There was no hunkering down.

If you want a beach save a lot of money and stay in the USA.

Vaccinated and visiting my 80-something parents. Life is getting better.

That is because most people in Austin are following the rules and wearing masks.

We have a trip planned for Italy in October, hope Italy opens up.

Curious what defines having "zero problems with COVID"?

Honestly, if you’re waiting for zero problems with Covid you may be home for the next 10 years or so. I don’t know what the solution is but I think we’re going to have to learn to live with this. That probably is going to mean booster shots, maybe vaccine certificates etc. But that was you who have buried your head in the sand and think that it’ll be normal in a year - well it’s going to be normal but it’s also a new normal. I’m assuming that I will be wearing mask off and on, if not all the time, maybe from here on out.

There will never be zero problems with anything in life.

It's great to see New York City reopening with people back on the streets.

I find it somewhat ironic that countries in Europe will open to tourist from other countries from Europe who's vaccines programs are failing. We get our second jabs at the end of the month and we are ready to spend those travel dollars sitting patiently in or travel account.

Bought a ticket to Turkey last week. I am planning to visit Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, and now Greece. All is well.