Saturday, December 4th 2021
Introduction without warning
Switzerland is tightening entry rules with immediate effect
As of today, vaccinated people are only allowed to enter Switzerland with a negative PCR test. Some people who have not been vaccinated are not even allowed into the country. The Swiss tourism branch fears high losses as a result of the suddenly introduced regulation.
Anyone traveling to Switzerland must now show a negative PCR test to rule out an infection with the coronavirus. This also applies to those who have recovered and who have been vaccinated. The new rule was announced yesterday, Friday, surprisingly and without warning. “The expansion of the mandatory test to all travelers goes too far,” criticizes the Swiss Tourism Association.
There are exceptions for regions close to the border. In Germany, this includes the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. Otherwise, the new regulation will apply from this Saturday for people from all over the world, and also for returning Swiss. You must also do a rapid PCR or antigen test between the fourth and seventh day after arrival and, if the result is positive, go to isolation immediately. Entrants bear the costs.
People who have not been vaccinated from outside the Schengen area initially do not come into the country at all. The quarantine regulations that have just been imposed for citizens from Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium, for example, have been lifted.
Better than quarantine
“The Swiss Tourism Association regrets the extension of the test requirement to all travelers, as this measure means a clear competitive disadvantage for Swiss tourism,” said the association. “Test costs are expensive and, especially for families of several people, a reason to move to a foreign country close to the border.”
On the other hand, the rector of the Higher Technical School for Tourism in Graubünden, Ursula Oehy Bubel, thinks that stricter tests are better than quarantine regulations. “Wherever guests have to adhere to a quarantine, tourist demand collapses almost completely,” she said. “This development could be absorbed by the new, stricter test regime.” In addition, the Swiss tourism providers are in the fortunate position that the locals make up the largest group of guests in the country.
Within 14 days, 1151.51 corona infections were last reported per 100,000 inhabitants. The Federal Office of Public Health does not give a seven-day incidence every day.