A curated collection of can’t-miss news from this week, including 2021 travel trends and more. Sign up to get the TURNER Weekly Download in your inbox.
With vaccination rates rising, the European Union is cautiously reopening to American leisure travelers this summer. “Most countries are expected to open to Americans immediately — if they haven’t already — including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece, among others,” writes Monika Pronczuk. “For the tourism powerhouses of Europe, especially, the ruling offered long-awaited relief that they could begin recouping their economic losses from the pandemic as summer weather arrives.”
By necessity, last summer saw the road trip making a big comeback. In 2021, the open highway still looks to be the vacation method of choice. AAA reported that around 34 million people went on road trips over Memorial Day Weekend. That’s an increase of 52 percent compared to 2020 (though still down by 9 percent compared to 2019). Meanwhile, 43 million people are expected to hit the road over the 4th of July Weekend. Looking for some good summer road trip tips? Here you go.
Air travel still has a long way to go before reaching pre-pandemic levels, but it’s coming back quickly. Forbes offers a few predictions for what to expect in the coming months. It’s not all good. In particular, air rage incidents are on the rise. “Since the mask mandate does not end until September 13, and the cultural issues like pandemic fatigue continue, I expect there to be a continuation of this unfortunate trend,” writes Ben Baldanza.
Travel is back — but we’re not out of the woods yet. The New York Times has the details on the most contagious form of the coronavirus so far: the Delta variant. “Experts say the quickly circulating Delta variant is a new concern for travelers, particularly those who are unvaccinated,” writes Concepción de León. To keep up, The C.D.C. has a global variant map that shows the countries where different variants have been identified.
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