WORLD
Oh, the Places You’ll (Not) Go!
The Irish are complaining about American tourists who thoughtlessly flout self-quarantining rules for visitors to the Emerald Isle.
They aren’t reconsidering their tough stance just because Americans are the largest source of tourism revenue in Ireland. “The first thing I want to see is American guests return,” hotelier Simon Haden of County Clare in western Ireland told the New York Times. “But not if it’s going to put the health and safety of our guests, our staff, the community under threat after the sacrifices we’ve made.”
Citizens of the United States have long enjoyed what frequent international travelers called “passport privilege.” The coronavirus pandemic is now precipitating a reversal in fortunes.
Canadian authorities fined Americans for flouting entry restrictions. While some Canadian businesses are hurting due to a slowdown of traffic, most Canadian citizens don’t want a more open border with the US right now, blaming the US for bringing Covid-19 into Canada according to the Washington Post.
“Canadians look at what’s happening with the spread of Covid in the United States and their comparatively better performance at getting it under control,” said Edward Alden, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “And they have no interest at all in Americans coming to Canada.”
People like Eric Brown in Ontario are torn. He runs fishing lodges and Americans are 95 percent of his business. Travel restrictions on the U.S.-Canada border, he said, have “absolutely devastated us,” he told the Washington Post. “It’s just heartbreaking to watch it all dissolve – 42 years of my legacy disappear in one season.”
Meanwhile, Mexican governors are calling for tighter restrictions on Americans entering the Latin American country due to the US’ high Covid-19 infection rate. In the Mexican town of Sonoyta on the Arizona border, residents used their cars and trucks to block the road to Puerto Peñasco, a beach town on the Sea of Cortés popular among American tourists whom the locals feared might spread the virus, the Guardian wrote.
Mexico is one of the few countries in the world that now accepts American visitors with few restrictions. Most nations have barred Americans owing to the rapid spread of the virus within the country.
The European Union recently extended its travel ban on Americans as the infection rate in the US continues to mount, USA Today wrote. Australians and South Koreans were recently readmitted. EU officials had a key requirement – to only admit individuals from countries with the same or better track record as the 27-member bloc regarding new infections.
The ban on Americans isn’t a joke. Sardinian authorities recently turned away five American tourists who arrived on the Mediterranean island in a private jet due to virus concerns, CNN reported.
“Americans are the dangerous, disease-carrying foreigners now,” was the headline of an op-ed in the Washington Post.
Some countries have banned all foreign entries. Expatriates in Japan are banned from returning to the country if they leave, wrote the Japan Times. The rule that puts an enormous pressure on folks who can’t plan much of a future in the country if they can never leave for family, business or pleasure.
Before the pandemic, global travel was a way of life for folks in rich countries, almost seen as a right. Now it is becoming a privilege.
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