Federal Foreign Office: No more travel warnings for many risk countries

The delta variant is spreading more and more – nevertheless, the government has lifted the travel warning for more than 80 corona risk areas. Foreign Minister Maas said that the time for blanket assessments should be over.

After more than a year of the corona pandemic, the federal government no longer advises against tourist trips abroad. The travel warning for the more than 80 countries classified as corona risk areas in whole or in part will also be lifted. This includes all of Turkey as well as holiday areas in Spain and Croatia. The move is explosive because of the rapid spread of the delta variant.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas defends the move: “The time of blanket assessments must be over,” said the SPD politician. “Where there are positive developments, there is no reason to maintain restrictions.”

Only three categories left

At the beginning of the pandemic on March 17, 2020, Maas issued a worldwide travel warning for tourists. The background was that at that time many vacationers were stranded because of the sudden cut of flight connections abroad and had to be brought back to Germany in an unprecedented show of strength. In September, the warning was then limited to corona risk areas with an infection rate of more than 50 per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days (seven-day incidence). But even for all countries not classified as risk areas, the federal government continued to advise against vacation travel until Wednesday.

Not anymore. There are now three categories of countries in the Federal Foreign Office’s travel advice.

Travel warning for 40 countries

The travel warning only applies from an incidence of 200 (high incidence areas) and for areas in which dangerous virus variants have spread widely (virus variant areas). That is only 40 of a total of around 200 countries worldwide. There are no more areas of high incidence in Europe.

A travel warning from the Federal Foreign Office should primarily have a deterrent effect. Before Corona, it was only pronounced for war and crisis areas such as Syria, Yemen or the Gaza Strip. However, the practical effects are limited. Above all, the travel warning enables holidaymakers to cancel bookings free of charge.

Great Britain and Portugal soon to be high incidence areas again?

Only the UK and Portugal are currently classified as virus variant areas. But that, too, could change again soon – due to the spread of the delta variant. If the delta variant becomes predominant in Germany and with the knowledge that the double vaccination also protects against this virus variant, “we will look at the situation in the next few days,” said Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU). “If both of these are confirmed, Portugal and the United Kingdom will then be able to be treated as high-incidence areas.”

Take special care: 26 EU countries

The following rule applies to 26 EU countries: If they are no longer classified as a risk area, the Federal Foreign Office’s travel advice only says “special caution” is requested. Exceptions are individual regions in Spain, Ireland, Croatia and Sweden, which are still classified as risk areas. The Federal Foreign Office continues to advise them not to travel. These include, for example, Andalusia in southern Spain and the Croatian coastal region of Zadar.

Between caution and advice: More than 100 third countries

Between these two categories there are well over 100 other countries outside the EU that are either risk areas or are considered “risk-free”. The Federal Foreign Office advises against travel to most of these countries. There is only an exception if one of these third countries is not classified as a risk area and there are no entry restrictions or quarantine obligations for Germans. Then only the advice of special caution applies.

New classification decided three weeks ago

The decision to restructure the travel advice was made just under three weeks ago, when the spread of the delta variant in Germany was not yet discussed as hotly. “Hope and confidence will return to Germany in the summer,” said Maas at the time. But he also emphasized that it was not an invitation to be carefree. “Travel with common sense and a sense of proportion, that is the motto of this summer. The danger posed by the virus and its mutants is far from over.”

This has also been shown in the last few weeks after the decision, in which several country representatives advocated stricter controls of tests, vaccination and recovery records.

Hard line when it comes to variant areas

However, the federal government wants to continue to take a hard line with virus variant areas such as Portugal and Great Britain and also win over other EU countries. “The discussions at the European level are about more uniform rules,” said Chancellery Minister Helge Braun (CDU) in an interview with the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft as well as the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”. “The federal government advocates a transport ban – only those who have an exceptionally important reason to enter from variant areas are allowed to enter, tourism is not one of them.”