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The introduction of European COVID passes that will enable foreigners to freely travel to the Czech Republic again is crucial for domestic tourism as many firms and business people in this branch have no chance to survive without them, experts agreed in a debate on these certificates.

It is important that particular EU member states launch the certificates in time and apply them in as much uniform way as possible, they also said.

Some time back, the European Parliament (EP) definitively approved the introduction of COVID-19 passes or the certificates on COVID vaccination, testing or the recent infection, officially called the Digital Green Certificate, to be issued free of charge to facilitate travelling abroad as of early July.

FILE PHOTO: A clock showing the time at noon is pictured on a building, next to almost empty streets at Old Town Square during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Prague, Czech Republic. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo

All EU countries will be obliged to issue and recognise the certificates. According to the MEPs, their introduction will become a crucial step to restore free movement and it will help not only tourists but also cross-border commuters and students.

“It is extremely important that Czechs should be able to travel abroad and foreigners travel to Czechia and thus support domestic tourism,” Czech Confederation of Commerce and Tourism (SOCR) President Tomas Prouza said.

He reminded that the firms active in tourism in the Czech Republic had paid more than 130 billion crowns (6.1 billion $) to the state budget in 2019 and employed over 250,000 people.

“They have no chance to work without tourists from abroad. Czech travellers alone cannot save them,” he stressed.

Last year, businesses in tourism registered a rise in the nights Czech tourists spent in accommodation facilities in the Czech Republic by 100,000, but in the case of foreigners, this figure dropped by more than 700,000.

Jan Herget, general director of the CzechTourism agency, also called the adoption of the COVID certificates crucial. Along with Prouza, he reminded that despite the more intensive tourism of Czechs in their homeland, foreigners are necessary for domestic businesses.

After the EU approved the COVID certificates, particular member states will now play the main role in the process, EP Vice-President Dita Charanzova said in the debate.

She noted that the certificates are important for entering a foreign country and for a stay there, but their possible use for visiting restaurants, cultural events and other sites are up to individual countries, which may set different conditions.

Exactly such possible differences pose a risk for the certificates to work in Europe, Prouza warned, adding that this is why the countries should apply similar rules.

The European Commission (EC) should at the same time negotiate about the recognition of travel conditions with third countries, Prouza added.

In this connection, Herget reminded that not only tourists from the EU, but also from the countries as the United States, Britain and Russia as well as the Persian Gulf and Asia are crucial for the Czech Republic.

MEP Alexandr Vondra (Civic Democrats, ODS) called the COVID passes a compromise in an extraordinary situation. He said he hoped that they would not have to be valid for a longer period than one year and then, all would return back to normal, to the free movement within the EU.

The Czech Health Ministry has drafted the respective amendment to the law on public health protection to define the legal framework for the issuance of the COVID certificates. The Chamber of Deputies health committee has supported it. However, the Chamber refused to debate the bill in summary procedure. It is not yet clear when MPs will deal with it.

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