France is back: Borders reopen to American tourists, others

France is back in business as a tourist destination after opening its borders Wednesday to foreign visitors who are inoculated against the coronavirus with vaccines approved by the European Union’s medicines agency

PARIS -- After “a very bad year,” Paris tour operator Marc Vernhet sees a ray of light with the promised return of tourists from the United States and elsewhere who are welcome in France as of Wednesday if they have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. His agency, 2CVParisTour.com, is starting to get bookings again from Americans for its sightseeing tours conducted in quirky, bug-eyed Citroen cars. June is still very lean, but July is looking better, Vernhet said as France took the first steps toward rebuilding its position as a top destination for foreign tourists. Before the pandemic, Vernhet ran three or four tours of the capital per day. The work dried up when France locked down, and he's only doing around three tours per week now, nearly exclusively for French visitors. Vernhet hailed the reopening of France's borders for vaccinated tourists as “excellent news” but said it is going to take a few more weeks for business to pick up and that “I’m not expecting to work correctly before mid-July." “We've been waiting for this for months and months,” he said.