EU Council opens door to US sightseers

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - The European Council has agreed Friday to lift travel restrictions on people entering the EU from 17 countries, including the US.

The UK was still absent from the list, and its situation will be reviewed in another two weeks.

The non-binding agreement adds the US, along with Albania, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Macau, the Republic of Northern Macedonia, Serbia, and Taiwan to a so-called "white list" of countries from which non-essential travel is allowed.

The news comes after a year-long ban for non-essential flying between the US and the EU.

US travellers took more than 36 million trips to Europe in 2019, but the figure dropped to 6.6 million in 2020 as a result of the Covid pandemic, data from the European Travel Commission showed.

National governments in the 27-strong EU are responsible for implementing the agreement and have the authority to require test results, vaccination records, or to set other entry conditions.