With three out of four Europeans planning on travelling over the summer, the era of border closures, mandatory testing and vaccine certificates seems a half-remembered nightmare to many. But with more than 1,700 people still dying every week across the world from Covid-19 and vaccine coverage declining among at-risk populations, according to the WHO, the pandemic isn't something that can just be spoken about in the past tense.
As European countries prepare for the summer holidays, lockdown seems like a very long time ago. Three out of four Europeans are planning on travelling between June and November this year, according to the European Travel Commission, with most respondents saying they were planning on taking multiple trips over the summer. It’s a six percent rise compared with the same period last year – a sign that the world’s beleaguered tourism industry has found a firmer footing after its brush with obliteration during the worst years of the Covid-19 pandemic. More than half of those travellers will be making the trip by plane.
