Italian PM--Vaccinated tourists by June 2nd?

with vaccination certificates

EDIT-- What do the Italian authorities accept as a 'vaccination certificate'?

Vaccinations certificates are simply as stated...a certificate to prove you've been vaccinated!

The Local posted this in English
https://www.thelocal.it/20210408/covid-19-italy-suggests-restarting-tourism-from-june-2nd/

The Local’s story seems to be much more tentative than Eric’s Google Translate statements. Things could open, and some possible dates, but meanwhile, travel is discouraged, quarantining upon arrival remains the policy, and nothings’s been confirmed about tourists from North America, versus Europeans.

It’s great that possibilities are being considered, at least, and Italy’s June 2 Festa della Repubblica national holiday could be a celebration in a lot of ways. Gee, less than 2 months from now!

And it looks like most of the places that Stan and I had hoped to go this year are in the red zone: Tuscany, Campagna, Puglia, and Emilia Romagna. Lazio is in the orange zone. I'm still not quite giving up hope, but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting dimmer.

In several countries including Portugal, what the Tourism Minister has said is usually more optimistic and differs from the PM or other ministers say! Time will tell.

Jane,

Same here. Our postponed trip has been set to October 2021. My hopes are diminishing more day by day. I keep telling my sons that we will know so much more by July, but don’t get their hopes up too much like we did last year.

Oldest son is on the verge of getting engaged possibly soon and I was wanting one more big family vacation before that. Plus, they’ve never been to Europe.

Excellent news from Italy. Thank you.

Our hope in Italy is to open as soon as possible.
One year ago we experienced that in June the Covid was almost inactive by itself, maybe for climatic reasons. In fact during the Summer months there were almost no infection. This year we can expect the same behavior.
So, give the freedom of movement to people vaccinated could be possible. The point is at a legal level: the problem is that we cannot forbid movement to people who want to be vaccinated but cannot have a vaccine because not available, so probably the vaccination certificate will be accepted (means legally valid) only when the vaccine will be available for every Italian. The forecast from suppliers is the Autumn and we hope they respect the timetable.
In my opinion is not impossible open borders and travel this Summer, but is much more reasonable think that only in October-November will be possible travel for leisure again.

Thanks for the good news! We have a trip planned!!

It will be intresting to see if there is much give and take between tourism minister Garavaglia who might be more pro-opening up due to his being from the League Party which iirc is considered fairly pro small business, and the very nature of his being tourism minister, and Prime Minister Draghi who presides over an extremely wide coalition of parties and probably wants to wait for a pretty clear consensus before going forward I would think. Anyway, we've promised our daughter a graduation trip to Italy at some point, but not sure if it would be possible before mid August when she heads back to school, and don't really want to be in Italy in July or August anyway.

I think it is a positive sign that officials are mentioning opening up Countries, but in reality, this, and similar statements by Greece, Portugal, the UK, and other countries are little more than wishful thinking. After all, in the US we were told repeatedly that things would be back to normal in May 2020 (then June, then..."turning the corner"...just not how many corners this polygon has) It does show however, they are willing to open sooner, with some risk, than later with no risk.

It still comes down to infection rates being at tolerable levels...which they are not...and enough people having vaccines, or recovered, to limit another spike...which is also not there yet.

Another small thing to keep in mind, when officials speak like this in Europe, they are first talking about opening to tourists internal to their own Country and Europe, and then the rest of us at some point, as it is now, on a country by country basis, taking into account infection rates in those countries. Vaccinated people from the US for example, might see some relief from quarantine or maybe even earlier entry, but nothing has been announced that this is the case. Italy would still need to coordinate to a degree with other EU/Schengen countries.

Though I missed my April date, I feel better about September, and more so about late November plans, so all positive.

We planned to go in May 2020. Cancelled. Rebooked for September 2020. Canceled. Rebooked for May 2021. Cancelled. Rebooked for September 2021. Maybe at best. Who knows. But it’s going to be all that much better when we finally get there!

Paul, you’re right about needing reliable data, and suitable results for travel to be permissible. Information in the past 3 months has been a LOT more reliable that what was being shoveled at us in April 2020, so I’m really considering the source! We do seem to be rounding the curve.

rickrack, we booked a flight to Italy for Sept. 21, ‘21, and lodging for early October. Holding off on more reservations for a bit longer. Hope your trip, and ours, get to safely happen.

There is no way I could begin to make judgment on any country's decision no matter how good the data is. The data would have to go miles beyond simple COVID numbers.

Three months ago the Italian Tourism Minister and the Prime Minister were probably in complete agreement. Now they disagree, that's a good sign for wannabe tourists that things are being considered. When they both agree, maybe it opens.

But those above are correct, there is the EU issue and the Schengen issue. That probably had something to do with the Balkan states, Iceland, Georgia, Ukraine, etc. opening up to US Citizens. No Schengen to deal with. Greece too, as they don't have a land border with another Schengen country. Italy, not so clean. But remember Hungary closed their Schengen border, then opened to non-Schengen then closed it again. So there are exceptions. Not always good, but .....

To be honest, I don't know of any European country that is "open" that is not open to US Citizens (maybe Bulgaria?), so the phased opening may or may not be much of a reality.

Then you have vaccination rates. With Hungary going outside the EU for vaccine and making good progress with vaccinations, and with the EU possibly accepting the Russian vaccine (Bavaria has pre-ordered), and the UK coming very close to heard immunity more tough decisions will have to be made.

Oh, and even if they are "open" to tourists, will you enjoy what is going on in the country?

Not till 2022? If that proves to be true, your location of choice may not have much to open for you.

It's a massive cluster-you-know-what and all we can do is sit back and watch .... or play your best hunch. My best hunch is pretty optimistic.

After all, in the US we were told repeatedly that things would be back
to normal in May 2020 (then June, then..."turning the corner"...just
not how many corners this polygon has) It does show however, they are
willing to open sooner, with some risk, than later with no risk.

Where I live (Texas) we have been open since April. To be honest our lockdown never was very restrictive. Our numbers now match June/July of 2020 which is a huge drop and still appear to be trending down (actually most of the country seems to be trending this way, locked or unlocked). Are we "back to normal"? No way. While not legislated, we still wear masks inside, social distance and many still work from home. I did three zoom meetings for work just today. I don't expect that to change anytime soon. I dont expect Europe to be any different once they find their footing and things begin to improve. Could be a long, long time before vaccination or a pcr test isnt required to enter; and longer before you can toss the mask. Many find those unacceptable travel conditions; and I get that.

@Cyn
Probably yes, we are rounding the curve. The problem is the next curve, the point we are on the rise :-D
https://www.parconazionale-stelvio.it/it/esperienze/strada-del-passo-dello-stelvio.html

Funny how things become a little clearer with each passing day or week.

We are planning a Switzerland/Italy 17-day train journey, leaving just about one year from now, mid-April 2022. I figured rather than try to jump the shark and have a fall 2021 trip postponed--what a P.I.T.A. that must be--I'm hoping that at least travel restrictions in Italy are lifted by New Years' and whatever surges there are have been contained, and we can start booking this late summer/fall with relative confidence.

Here in the U.S., even with mass vaccination there are little hotspots in a few states like Michigan & New Jersey, but nothing like the waves of last fall that forced everybody back inside. I guess the theory is with vaccines the surges will be with less and less virulence until it's like the regular flu.

But I'm expecting, even 12 months from now, that there will still be at least some restrictions in place almost everywhere in Europe. To that end, just like my previous three trips, I will secure trip insurance to cover air and some hotel should we have to cancel. Crossing fingers!

UK coming very close to heard (sic) immunity

It has been many months since I have heard "herd immunity" mentioned by any scientific advisor or politician either in the daily briefings or in interviews - here in the UK.

Do other countries other than the USA speak of that concept now?

Sorry, thought these were UK publications. My bad. Nvm.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/09/ucl-team-claim-covid-19-herd-immunity-achieved-uk-disputed-scientists

https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/covid-19-uk-set-to-reach-herd-immunity-milestone-within-days-say-scientists-12269405

But I heard about the UK herd immunity claim on BBC. Nonsense as it does not consider all the variants and the next wave and that other thing that makes normal life impossible.

Serbia has reportedly begun "Vaccine Tourism" Come to Serbia and get vaccinated! Not sure how I feel about that.

Let’s not forget these predictions are from the same politicians who, less than 2 months ago, predicted that Italy would be administering half a million doses a day. We are at 112,000 daily, as of today.

Still waiting til you can move between regions in Italy. Now we can at least move around our town. Not between towns but within. Wait and see. The ski season near me was cancelled within hours of when it was scheduled to open... not counting on anything just yet.