The European Union recommended on Friday that its member states lift the ban on nonessential travel for visitors from the United States, a move sure to be welcomed by Americans eager to travel to the continent after more than a year of tight restrictions. The recommendation is nonbinding, and each member state can decide what regulations, including quarantines, to impose on visitors. Americans have been mainly banned from Europe as the United States grappled with one of the highest caseloads in the world.
The opening is also expected to provide relief for southern European countries that are very dependent on tourism, including Italy and Portugal. Those countries pressed the European Commission to act so that the entire summer tourist season would not be hurt by the absence of Americans, who are considered relatively big spenders. The decision comes just days after President Biden’s visit to Brussels, where he met with top E.U. officials.