Lockdowns, vaccine delays conspire to push Europe travel to late summer
While the success of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in the U.S. has fueled optimism about a strong summer travel rebound, tourism officials in Europe say that slower progress on vaccines there coupled with new surges likely means any widespread return of Americans won't happen until late summer.
"I don't see anything happening in terms of Europe as a whole [opening] before late July," said Tom Jenkins, CEO of the European Tourism Association. "There's a possibility that July may yield something, but most people are looking at August, September."
Jenkins said one exception could be the U.K., which is much further ahead of the region in vaccinations.
Officially, the EU's more than yearlong ban on inbound travel from the U.S. and most countries outside the region remains in effect, but its members are not bound by that.
