For more than a year, vacations to Germany were impossible as most travel from the US – and many other countries outside Europe – remained heavily restricted amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Yet as increasingly more Americans become fully vaccinated - and Germany’s coronavirus situation steadily improves - it’s looking more likely that travel for tourism could again be allowed this summer.
READ ALSO: Germany’s emergency brake ‘set to expire’ amid low Covid figures
The tourism industry - which is beginning to reopen in most of Germany - is eager for their arrival: From 2018-2019, Americans comprised the third largest group of international visitors to Germany, and the largest from outside of the EU, according to Statista.
Typically around 2.2 million Americans visit the Bundesrepublik each year, making it the fourth most popular destination in Europe for them.
Which Americans can travel to Germany?
Yet tourism is still currently put on hold. At the moment, Germany only allows unrestricted entry into the country for a small handful of non-EU countries, not including the US, according to the Foreign Ministry.
However, it continues to broaden the definition of “essential travel” into the country, as long as travellers comply with testing and quarantine rules.
These reasons include meeting an unmarried partner who is a resident in Germany (if they first fill out a form), short term work including business trips, medical procedures, and those visiting for urgent family reasons, including the birth of a child or grandchild.
The US Embassy in Berlin has urged anyone unsure about their individual situation to contact their local consulate before booking travel.
On Tuesday June 1st, Germany downgraded its coronavirus threat level, which is likely to influence how other countries, including the US, will assess travel here.
For Americans eager to jump the gun and book a flight to Germany, several commercial airlines and booking websites such as Orbitz are offering regular commercial flights from the US, with either the possibility of a full refund or change to a later date for free.
Will Germany relax the rules for vaccinated US tourists?
EU ambassadors for the 27 member states in May recommended that rules should be changed to allow non-essential visits into the EU by travellers who are fully vaccinated – in other words with both doses of a two-dose vaccine or one in the case of the Johnson & Johnson injection.
However, on the unresolved question of how visitors will be able to prove they have been vaccinated, the EU said it will be up to individual member states to decide what evidence they will accept.
Germany has already eased most quarantine requirements after travel for fully vaccinated people, with the exception of those coming from a virus variant area. Testing requirements are still in place, such as showing a negative test from the last 48 hours.
In May the EU Commission president and former German defence secretary Ursula von der Leyen revealed the bloc's plan "to revive the tourism industry and rekindle cross-border friendships".
The sun rises in Warnemünde, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Friday morning. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Jens Büttner
"We propose to welcome again vaccinated visitors and those from countries with a good health situation. But if variants emerge we have to act fast: we propose an EU emergency brake mechanism," said Von der Leyen.
The EU has been trying to push a coordinated response across the 27 member states to allow for tourist travel from non-EU countries, which was effectively banned in March 2020.
It looks likely that Germany, and other EU member states, will allow travellers from certain non-EU countries deemed to be low risk if they are fully vaccinated, or potentially also if they can show a negative test result from a PCR swab test from within the last 48 hours before travel to Germany.
The rules, however, have yet to be confirmed.
Some EU countries, including Italy, Spain and Greece, have gone their own way, already announcing plans to allow vaccinated tourists to visit from the US.
When will the rules for summer be confirmed?
The German government is expected to make further announcements on the rules for travel from outside Europe this summer by the end of June – when it says the country’s travel pass scheme is set to be rolled out.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said that the country’s so-called CovPass, a health certificate that will allows people to upload their health status (such as full vaccination or negative test) for smoother travel, will be ready by the end of June. That's roughly in line with the date provided by the EU.
READ ALSO:
- What is Germany's new digital vaccination pass and when can I get it?
- What’s the latest on how the EU’s ‘Covid passport’ will work for travellers?
The EU says it has been working closely to inform the US, the World Health Organization and others about its progress to allow the certificate to be used on a wider scale. But it is not clear how this will work in practice for travellers from the US, who mostly don't have vaccine certificates with QR codes on them - a key part of the new digital passport.
For now, most travellers coming from outside the European Union will still need to follow any entry bans as well as quarantine and testing rules, which vary depending on the country you are travelling from.
See The Local’s Germany travel news section for the latest updates.
For more information on the current restrictions and health situation in Germany please see the Foreign Ministry’s website (in English).
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