Italy includes Cuba in the list of countries that integrate the “COVID-19 free tourist corridor”
A new Italian government ordinance was announced this week in which the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza announced that Cuba would be included among the countries within the COVID-19 free tourist corridor, which has been in operation since September 2021.
This news has been much awaited both for the tourism sector and for travelers themselves, as it allows, complying with specific sanitary measures, to travel to and from these countries.
The new COVID-19 free destinations added to the list include Cuba, Singapore, Turkey, Thailand -limited to the island of Phuket-, Oman and French Polynesia.
These countries will join others that already functioned as COVID-19 free tourism corridors and to which travel was possible such as Aruba, Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Dominican Republic, Sharm el-Sheikh and Marsa Alam.
How does a COVID-19 free tourism corridor work?
COVID-19 free tourist corridors appeared for the first time in an ordinance of the Italian Official Gazette of September 28, 2021. It refers to all itineraries with departure and arrival on the national territory, intended to allow the realization of controlled tourist trips, including the stay in accommodation facilities selected according to appropriate specific sanitary safety measures, to ensure compliance with the protocols.
Yes. This category allows tourists to travel, provided they stay in a specific facility and with all safety measures. These are trips organized and managed exclusively by tour operators who are also required to ensure compliance with all necessary measures to guarantee the containment of the virus.
As in any tourist trip, travelers must comply with the entry requirements of the authorities of the destination countries whose information is provided by the tour operators.
Although Cuba is still on the list of countries banned from traveling to Italy for tourist purposes, this COVID-19 free corridor category would allow travel as long as it is carried out with these characteristics.
A Cuban will not be able, for the time being, to organize the trip on his or her own, but would have to access these tour operators, which have not yet been disclosed.
Although there is not much more information on the matter, it is worth mentioning that Italy requires a vaccination certificate or a certificate of recovery of COVID-19 in the last 6 months. Cuban vaccines are not yet recognized by the WHO in the countries of the European Union either.
It is true that it will be very difficult for Cubans who wish to travel to Italy for tourism reasons to access this option, given that it confines them to a hotel and that they need international vaccination, but even so this is good news as it means that the Italian government already sees Cuba as a country where the COVID-19 situation is under control.
In Cuba News we are aware of the Italian ordinances to inform our readers as soon as tourism between the two countries has been reestablished. Subscribe to our Youtube channel and follow us on our social networks for more information.
