Update, June 30: Iceland has updated its policy to conform to recommendations by the European Union. Americans are no longer welcomed. For complete information, see our feature about the rules of entry for most European countries.
Iceland, one of the most popular but least populated European countries, is ready to reopen its borders to outsiders again.
On June 15 at the latest, the country's air border (it's an island nation) reopens.
"Iceland's strategy of large-scale testing, tracing, and isolating have proven effective so far," Tourism Minister Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadottir said in a statement.
Iceland, which has tested 13% of its population and reported only three positive coronavirus diagnoses in the month of May, is doing something that the United States isn't. The Nordic isle is using a special tracing app that helps track where viral-positive people are.
All incoming tourists will be asked to download and activate the app.
Details are still being finalized, but the basics of the plan have been decided. Upon arrival, visitors will be given a choice: Either submit to a rapid Covid-19 test (or furnish proof of a recent one) or agree to a two-week quarantine.
Global health crisis aside, getting to Iceland in the future may be harder for Americans. Icelandair, the airline most of them use to reach the island nation, is in grave financial trouble. Should the airline go under, Americans might have to change planes on continental Europe to get to Iceland.
