Interim Health Minister Eduard Heger (OĽaNO) announced on Wednesday that the Government is set to prohibit travelling abroad for recreational purposes, explaining that this is meant to remedy the fact that the current curfew does not allow people to travel from one district to another, but they can still go on holiday abroad. The ban on recreation abroad will apply from Saturday, 20 March to 28 April. Police should control the airports and vacationers may be given 1000 euro fine. The legislative details of the new restriction are not known yet.
The Maldives, Zanzibar or Egypt - these were some of the popular destinations that Slovaks traveled to in the middle of the pandemic. Since the start of the year, more than 30,000 Slovaks have taken holidays abroad, including several MPs and well-known personalities. The pandemic commission also recommends avoiding holidays abroad - to prevent tourists bringing new coronavirus mutations to Slovakia. However, travel to and from abroad for work, health and family matters remains allowed.
Owners of travel agencies on the other hand point out that fairness is not really a strong argument, as people returning from a holiday abroad must currently spend 14 days in domestic quarantine. Moreover, this measure can again hurt the travel business already severely hit by the pandemic.
According to healthcare expert Martin Smatana, the problem is not with vacationing abroad, but police statistics show that the number of Slovaks not complying with the domestic quarantine is rising.
Meanwhile, there are still many technical problems connected to the proposed digital green card, the so-called COVID passport, which should guarantee free travel in the EU during and after the pandemic. MEP Michal Wiezik from the European People's Party considers it reasonable that at this stage, the COVID passport would mainly concern vaccines approved in the EU, as their quality and safety are guaranteed.
