Iceland will reopen its doors for vaccinated travelers from the US and the UK from March 18, becoming among the first nations worldwide to permit passengers vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter the nation.
The North Atlantic island government previously announced that it would allow vaccinated travelers from the European Union and Schengen Zone to enter its territory without being obliged to follow quarantine rules or testing processes if they current vaccination certificate upon their arrival.
However, the decision did not provide information for travelers from the US and UK, which bring many tourists,
In this regard, the nation’s Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir stressed that in the past 12 months, the world has been through a lot, “and we are all hoping for a slow and safe return to normalcy.”
“This also includes the resumption of the opportunity to travel, which is valuable to culture, trade, and enterprise,” Iceland’s Prime Minister identified.
Currently, all travelers from Schengen Zone nations, the European Union, and those from the United States and the United Kingdom must present proof of full vaccination with one of many vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization or European Medicines Agency, which present exclude vaccines from China and Russia.
Earlier this month, Iceland began granting COVID-19 digital certificates to all EU and Schengen travelers who have taken the vaccine against the Coronavirus disease, becoming the first European nation to put into practice this plan.
However, such a decision was not welcomed by many people who stressed that it made little sense to create rules just for citizens of the Schengen Zone and the EU nations while banning the entry for residents of other territories.
Iceland’s Chief Epidemiologist Thorolfur Gudnason mentioned that “when individuals are protected against the same virus, with the same vaccines that the same companies produce, there isn’t any medical reason to discriminate based on the location where the jab is; administered.”
“Our experience shows that the risk of infection from vaccinated individuals is very small or negligible,” Gudnason highlighted.
According to the Icelandic tourist board chair, Bjarnheidur Hallsdottir, the reopening is “great and important.”
She emphasized that 41 percent of all hotel stays in 2019 were from visitors from the US and UK.
“This is important, not least because the US and UK are much better at vaccinating their citizens than EU nations,” Hallsdottir added.
Tourism is among the top industries in Iceland, even though it represented 3.5 percent of the nation’s GDP last yr.
This industry represented 3.4 percent of the nation’s GDP in 2010 and 8 percent in 2019, marking a decline again during the last yr.
