PARIS — After the worst year of the pandemic, Paris now gradually moving to normalcy by opening its border for vaccinated tourists from the United States and elsewhere.
To be allowed in for tourism, Travelers from Americans and other visitors from most countries outside of Europe will need to show that they have been fully inoculated against the coronavirus with vaccines approved by the European Union’s medicines agency.
France’s acceptance of only the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccines means tourism isn’t immediately coming back from the lucrative markets of China and Russia, which use vaccines not approved by the European Medicines Agency.
Without one of the those four vaccines, most non-EU visitors will still need to prove that they have a compelling reason to visit France and must quarantine on arrival.
But European visitors and those from a handful of low-risk countries are being welcomed back with open arms, even if they are not vaccinated. These so-called “green” countries include Japan, South Korea and Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, Lebanon and Israel. All EU countries as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland are also “green.” Vaccinated tourists from these countries can waltz right in; the unvaccinated need a recent negative test.
“Treat yourself, reserve now,” France’s tourism minister, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, said in a video message Wednesday.
“We want to hear Dutch, German, English, Italian, Spanish being spoken everywhere in the country,” he said. “We miss it. We miss you.”
As well as reopening to tourists, France from Wednesday also allowed restaurants and cafes to resume indoor service and for people to work out in gyms.
For 16 countries deemed high-risk so-called “red” countries include India and some of its neighbors, Brazil and some of its neighbors, as well as Chile, Bahrain, South Africa, and Turkey, France remains off-limits as a tourist destination, even for would-be travelers who are vaccinated, as they are battling coronavirus surges and worrisome variants.
Travelers from so-called “orange” countries — which includes most of the rest of the world outside Europe, including the United States and Britain — still need a recent negative PCR or antigen test as well as proof of vaccination.
If unvaccinated, or inoculated with jabs not approved in Europe, would-be visitors from orange countries are not allowed to enter France unless they have a compelling professional or other reason. Sightseeing isn’t one of them.
