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Denmark gives green light to quarantine-free tourism to Portugal

Tourists from Denmark can now travel to Portugal without having to quarantine on either leg of their trip.

Published: 18 May 2021 14:18 CEST
Denmark gives green light to quarantine-free tourism to Portugal
Travellers arrive at Porto Airport on May 17th. Photo: Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

The Danish foreign ministry yesterday eased its travel advisory for the Iberian country and now longer advises against non-essential travel to any area of Portugal. This is in line with low infection rates in Portugal and Lisbon’s own lifting of restrictions on Monday, which allowed tourists to enter the country.

Entry to Portugal still requires a negative PCR test taken within the last 72 hours.

International tourism has been severely curtailed during the pandemic for people who live in Denmark, while those with families in other countries have faced months on end without being able to see their loved ones in person.

Denmark’s requirement for travellers entering the country to quarantine for at least five days on arrival (with some exemptions) has been a significant factor in this.

The rule was introduced earlier this year in an effort to prevent infectious variants of Covid-19 from entering and gaining a foothold in Denmark.

But recent weeks have seen both Denmark and a number of other European countries, including popular destinations for tourists, ease travel restrictions.

Currently, the foreign ministry lifts its advice against tourism to regions or countries when the coronavirus infection rate of the destination falls below 50 cases per 100,000 residents over the last week. The ministry criteria also take into account the number of tests and test positivity rate.

Mainland Portugal currently has an infection rate of 23.9 per 100,000, according to ECDC figures. For islands Madeira and the Azores, the measure is 38.9 and 45.1 per 100,000, respectively.

In addition to Portugal, the Danish foreign ministry has also lifted its travel advice against tourism to Malta and parts of Spain including the Canary Islands and Mallorca.

READ ALSO: Denmark eases travel restrictions: EU tourists can now enter country

Member comments

  1. Please take care of each other by getting vaccinated with both shots and help the planet too. Good truly loves u, pls stay safe and get both doses of the vaccine, after 2 weeks of the 2nd dose you’re fully vaccinated + keep using a mask to avoid any infections to unvaccinated groups you may carry from any previous infections. Eat and exercise healthy to not get any clots. Others and I too love u! Luke 14 :25-33 Forsake everything everyone and your life for JES

    Luke 16 :13 Work for JES not $$$, and JES will give you also your family food and clothing if they follow too

    Matthew 25 :34-36, Matthew 6 :3-4 and Luke 12 :33 Sell all you have and give to the poor and keep every giving in secret

    Mark 16 :15 and John 17 :22 Share the Truth to all working together in love also peace

    Revelation 13 :16-17 + 14 :9-11 Never take mark of the beast right hand or forehead only way to buy or sell ¤It is not a covid vaccine or a mask, may be microchip implant / quantum tech

    Revelation 17 :15-18 + 18 :8-10 USA is most possibly the Babylon to be destroyed in 1 hour with fire

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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