South Africa & Colombia Announce Reopening For Tourism

It’s always good news when more places say they’re reopening to the world after coronavirus. This time the good news is from Colombia and South Africa.

Colombia

Colombia reopened its gates to tourism on September 19th, and travel from the United States was a priority. Spirit Airlines will offer flights from Fort Lauderdale and Colombian airline Viva Air will fly to/from Miami. Flights from Mexico, the Dominican Republic and other countries began on September 21st.

For the safety of all, travelers arriving in Colombia must present a negative PCR test results for Covid-19, taken no longer than 96 hours before the scheduled time of plane departure. Passengers with symptoms associated with Covid-19 will not be allowed to board the plane.

Passengers must fill out the country’s online form, CheckMig (www.migracioncolombia.gov.co), between 1 and 24 hours before their flight and should wear a face mask in airplanes and at airports. Passengers must also maintain a minimum distance of 2 meters at the airport and should arrive at the airport terminal no more than 3 hours before their international flight.

To date, Colombia has had nearly 760,000 cases of COVID-19, with just over 24,000 deaths. They currently average roughly 8,000 new cases per day. The CDC lists them as a Level 3 warning due to coronavirus, and the State Dep’t says they’re a Level 4 due to crime, terrorism and kidnapping, along with COVID-19.

South Africa

Earlier in the year, South Africa announced it would not reopen to international tourists until early 2021. However, they’ve recently changed their stance and plan to resume allowing foreign visitors on October 1, 2020.

Visitors to South Africa will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of their departure. If they refuse testing, visitors can quarantine for 14 days upon arrival, at their own expense. Besides having to undergo temperature checks upon landing at South African airports, visitors will need to wear face-coverings in public and download a mobile contact tracing app. Here’s more info about the app:

President Cyril Ramaphosa has yet to announce which countries will initially be allowed to visit South Africa, but suggested it will be based on the number of people with the virus:

“We will gradually and cautiously ease restrictions on international travel…allowing travel into and out of South Africa for business, leisure and other travel with effect from October 1, 2020,” said Ramaphosa. “Travel may be restricted to and from certain countries that have high infection rates.”

South Africa has so far has roughly 660,000 cases of COVID-19, with nearly 16,000 deaths. They’re currently averaging about 2,000 new cases per day. The CDC lists them as a Level 3 warning due to coronavirus. The U.S. State Dep’t also says they’re a Level 3 risk for travel, due to crime, civil unrest, health, drought and COVID-19.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary

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