Italy has been the most popular potential tourist destination since the Omicron variant was discovered in South Africa last November, bringing new restrictions and concerns on international travel, according to TripsGuard, a website that compiles all current COVID-related travel restrictions in any given country.
According to TripsGuard, some 22% of site traffic from Israel in recent weeks has been directed towards information on traveling to Italy, with the US in second place with 19% of the searches. The high interest in Italy is a combination of the preferable weather at this time of year relative to other northern European countries, as well as lower COVID rates than other destinations in the Mediterranean basin and Europe.
Italy is an “orange” country, according to the Israeli Health MInistry's “Lists of Countries by Color” and was not among the countries recently added to the “red” list. Traveling to countries on the red list is entirely prohibited without special permission, while travel to nations on the orange list is subject to additional health regulations.
TripsGuard also tracked those interested in traveling to Israel, finding that the most interest comes from potential visitors in the United States. Visitors from the United Arab Emirates had the second-highest amount of Israel-related traffic, followed by those from Spain and England.
Mickey Haslawski, founder and CEO of TripsGuard, said that getting acquainted with rapidly-evolving entry guidelines to countries grew “challenging” during the pandemic period and required hours of research on sites that may use complex terms, leaving the prospective traveler unclear about current regulations. TripGuard.com was founded as a solution to the unclear restrictions.
TripsGuard's website compiles detailed and up-to-date information on the current entry laws of 200 countries, showing rules for people from specific countries, ages and vaccination status.