The Norwegian authorities have announced that citizens of the country will now be able to travel to other areas, even for tourism purposes, since the Government will no longer advise against unnecessary travel.
This means that Norwegians are no longer discouraged from travelling to other countries as long as they hold a valid COVID-19 Passport and follow their destination country’s entry restrictions and requirements, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, based on the current Coronavirus situation, no country will be part of the travel advice. However, if the epidemic situation starts to worsen, Norway may issue travel advice at any time in order to protect public health as well as control the further spread of the virus.
“Even though the global travel council is now being wound up, it is important to remember that the pandemic is not over. Many countries still have entry restrictions, relatively high infection rates and strict infection control measures. If you are going to travel, you must familiarize yourself carefully with the situation in the country you want to visit,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide said.
Consequently, after today, the Ministry can still establish Coronavirus-related rules in line with the figures from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Ministry of Health and Care Services.
Even though the travel advice is no longer effective, the Ministry has highlighted that the country’s authorities can’t guarantee that a trip outside Norway is safe as long as traces of the virus are still circulating.
As such, the same indicated that everyone is to take responsibility for their own safety, highlighting that before deciding to travel to another country, everyone checks the entry conditions and the infection rates of their destination country.
“There are many countries that are not back to a normal state, but we are happy that it is possible to travel more now. As always, we encourage everyone to register in reseregistrering.no, either via regjeringen.no or the app «Travel ready»,” Søreide added.
Even though Norway has ended its Coronavirus-related travel advice, the country will continue to keep in place its travel advice against several countries that currently have a complicated political situation. Some of the countries include Afghanistan, Libya, North Korea, and Syria, among others.
Previously, the Danish Travel Agents and Tour Operators Association (DRF) urged the Danish Government to remove travel advice against travel abroad following the example of Norway and Sweden, as well as to abolish the travel restrictions imposed against travelers from third countries.
