The European Parliament has announced that the resolution of an EU scheme for clean tourism has been approved with 577 votes in favour, 32 against, and 80 abstentions.
Debating about the damages that the COVID-19 has caused to the EU’s travel and tourism sector, Members of the European Parliament pointed out that the EU measures for safe and sustainable tourism, a joint vaccination certificate, and an EU hygiene settlement must be included in the new EU tourism scheme.
Previously in a meeting held in February, the Transport and Tourism Committee of the EU Parliament voted the draft resolution concerning the aforementioned recommendations for sustainable tourism, with 47 votes in favour and two against it.
The MEPs emphasised that the travel and tourism sector contributes by around ten per cent to the European Union’s GDP. Therefore, EU countries are encouraged to include the travel sector in their recovery plans and to take into consideration reducing VAT for the time being on these services.
Through a press release issued by the European Parliament, the MEPs call on the Member States to fully apply the common criteria for safe travel as soon as possible, considering that travellers want safe, clean, and more eco-friendly tourism.
The Member States should also include an EU Health and Safety custom for testing before departure and confirm that quarantine should be applied only as a measure of the last resort the MEPs insist.
“The vaccination certificate and sanitary seal have been taken on board, but what is needed now is proper European coordination for testing regimes that do not impose additional costs on European citizens. The EU needs to urgently speed up the roll-out of vaccines across Europe and to put in place proper financial instruments to support the green and digital transition,” the member of the European Parliament, Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar, said.
This is an excerpt from an article originally published on Schengenvisa info news.
