This was published 1 year ago
The 10 countries that are refusing to reopen to tourism
By Ben Groundwater
The Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, Japan.Credit: Nikada/iStock
There's a pandemic still raging around the world – not sure if you've noticed. For travellers, however, COVID-19 has essentially ceased to exist now, at least in terms of restrictions on our movement.
Pretty much anywhere you want to go, for holiday or business, you can go. Barely any countries even require pre-travel testing anymore. No more apps to download. Not even vaccination certificates. Our freedom to move around the world unhindered has returned.
Only, it hasn't quite returned in full. Because although for so many nations the "new normal" has begun and a sense of finality has been achieved, there are still a few hold-outs, still a few countries that are refusing to play along and allow foreign tourists to enter.
When choosing your next holiday destination, these are the only nations left that won't let you in.
JAPAN
Japan continues to walk a fine line of being technically open to foreign tourists, though not in a way that many people are actually going to want to utilise. Independent travellers are still banned in Japan – if you want to have a holiday here, you'll need to be on a guided package tour, either private or in a group, with a local Japanese chaperone keeping tabs on your movements. Though the country's COVID-19 case numbers are currently sky-rocketing, an announcement on an easing of restrictions is rumoured to be imminent.
CHINA
Credit: iStock
The last great zero-COVID hold-out continues to keep its doors closed to foreign visitors. And even if you do manage to gain entry here, you will have to do at least seven days' quarantine in a managed facility on arrival, and then be at the mercy of local laws should you contract COVID-19, which could include extended periods of forced quarantine. Given China's zero-tolerance approach to the pandemic, it's difficult to see how the country plans to ever reopen to mass tourism.
TAIWAN
Credit: Sean Pavone/iStock
Taiwan isn't a zero-COVID nation – there are currently about 20,000 new cases a day here. Still, the country remains closed to tourists, with only foreign business travellers, interns and volunteers currently allowed entry; and even then, with a period of quarantine. This does, however, represent a loosening of restrictions in Taiwan, and the country is moving ever so slowly towards allowing tourism.
BHUTAN
Credit: iStock
Here's an interesting one: Bhutan is essentially COVID-free right now. Its government is reporting a seven-day average of 17 new cases a day. And yet the country is about to take the plunge and throw the doors open to foreign tourists on September 23. It will also, however, triple its famous tourist tax, charging holiday-makers almost $300 per tourist, per night. That should serve to keep the masses at bay.
NORTH KOREA
It should come as no surprise to discover that the country that was essentially closed to foreign tourists before the COVID-19 pandemic is still closed to foreign tourists during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even the guided tour loophole has been closed, which means you shouldn't expect to be wandering the streets of Pyongyang any time soon.
TURKMENISTAN
Credit: iStock
Here's another famously reclusive country that has taken the opportunity to seal its borders ever tighter during the pandemic. It was never easy to get into Turkmenistan, but now it's impossible: all international passenger flights have been cancelled, all road borders are closed, all passenger ferries cancelled. Only citizens and permanent residents can get in, and even they have to spend 21 days in state-run quarantine. So, ah, no thanks.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
You may scoff, but there were some good reasons to visit the CAR before the pandemic: this is a country of intense natural beauty, and it's one of the world's best places to see huge forest elephants, and track western lowland gorillas. However, escalating tensions, and a requirement for foreign arrivals to do 14 days of self-isolation if they're really that desperate to visit, has this country on the no-go list for tourism.
LIBYA
Credit: iStock
Libya wasn't exactly high on most travellers' lists before the pandemic, due to such inconveniences as ongoing violence and the threat of kidnapping, and now the choice has been taken out of your hands: Libya has closed its borders to foreign travellers entirely.
SYRIA
Credit: iStock
Given well publicised unrest in Syria, resulting in "Do not travel" warnings from pretty much any government authority you care to consult, as well as constantly changing entry requirements, and borders that open and close at irregular intervals, it's safe to say that this country, again, is a no-go for tourists.
YEMEN
Credit: iStock
So, you want to go to Yemen? Of course you don't. There's an ongoing war here, and a "Do not travel" warning, and a requirement to front up in person to the Yemeni embassy in Jakarta if you even hope to apply for a tourist visa – which probably won't be granted. Have you considered Spain?
Email: b.groundwater@traveller.com.au
Instagram: instagram.com/bengroundwater
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