Lockdown restrictions ease for some; stepped up for others

On 19 August, Costa Rica announced that residents of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont will be able to fly into Costa Rica from 1 September.

"In these six states, there has been a very positive evolution of the pandemic and their epidemiological indicators are of high quality," Gustavo Segura, Costa Rica's Minister of Tourism, said.

In addition to an electronic health pass, negative RT-PCR diagnostic test (taken within 48 hours of travel) and medical insurance, US travellers are required to provide a driver’s license that shows a residential address in one of the six permitted states.

Furthermore, the Costa Rica Tourism Board asserts that private flights from the US can enter Costa Rica from 1 September as ‘their size and nature means they present a much lower epidemiological risk’, and that travellers arriving via private yacht from an unauthorised city or port can subtract the number of days spent at sea from their quarantine requirements.

As of 19 August, Costa Rica is now open to international tourists from the European Union, Europe's Schengen Zone, the UK, Canada, Uruguay, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, China, and New Zealand.

In other news, Bali has now done a U-turn on its plans to allow international travellers into its borders as of 11 September. Due to an increasing number of new Covid-19 cases in Indonesia, Bali will now remain closed to international tourists until the end of 2020 – a move that many working in the country’s tourism industry (hotels and restaurants included) have lambasted, due to a considerable loss in income.

"The situation in Indonesia is not conducive to allow international tourists to visit the country, including Bali," said the island's Governor, Wayan Koster.

And, over in the UK, yet more countries have been removed from the country’s air corridor list. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) announced on 20 August that Croatia, Austria and Trinidad & Tobago have been removed from the UK’s air corridor list, while Portugal has been added back in.

Commenting on the FCO’s latest changes, Tommy Lloyd, Managing Director of travel insurance provider Medical Travel Compared, noted that Portugal being added to the UK’s green list would give hope to other countries that had been removed from the list that they could be re-added in time. But what does it do for consumer confidence in travelling? “This ever-developing situation is a good example of why it is essential to purchase travel insurance at the time of booking a trip anywhere,” offered Lloyd.