In travel news for April 25, 2022 we have good news from Switzerland and Greece, a new visitor system in Venice, and StarLink has it’s first airline customer.
Switzerland to Remove Entry Restrictions
Switzerland recently announced that they will be removing all COVID entry restrictions. Travelers arriving on or after Monday, May 2 will no longer need to provide proof of vaccination, proof of negative COVID test, or any other COVID related paperwork. And not to be outdone, Greece followed by announcing they too will be removing all COVID entry requirements also starting on May 2nd.
Venice Implements Visitor Tax
Venice, Italy is a very popular destination for travelers, so popular that the large crowds have caused issues within the city. In an effort to better balance tourism Venice will be testing a booking system during the summer travel months. Single day visitors to Venice will have to signup online and pay about 3 euro during the off season or 10 Euros during the summer months. That’s roughly equivalent around $3 and $11 dollars US respectively. Travelers staying overnight will not have to pay a fee. The booking system will go live in June and run for 6 months. The goal is to limit the maximum number of visitors to between 40,000 and 50,000 a day/. If the trial goes well the system will be made permeant.
Hawaiian Airlines Partners with SpaceX
We talked last week about Delta Airlines testing SpaceX’s StarLink internet for inflight WiFi. Hawaiian Airlines, which currently doesn’t offer inflight WiFi, has just become the first airline to sign a deal with SpaceX. Starting next year those flying on Hawaiian Airlines will have free, yeah free inflight WiFi through the Starlink system. The service will only be offered on long-haul flights which go the continental united states, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.