Europe welcomes back tourists after a year, hopes to revive tourism

A tourist take photos at the Parthenon temple during a media tour for the Foreign Correspondents organised by the Greek Cultural Ministry at the Acropolis hill in Athens. (Photo: AP)

Tourists arrive at Barcelona airport in Spain. Europe is opening up to visitors after more than a year of COVID-induced restrictions. (Photo: AP)

Visitors gather during a presentation visit of the "Grand Palais Ephemere", with the Eiffel Tower in the background, in Paris. European governments are hoping to lure back tourists - and their dollars back to the continent. (Photo: AP)

Soccer fan patrons are seen at a sports bar in Portugal. Thousands of English fans arrived to Portugal for the Champions League final. Hotels and bars hope for a boost after the tourism sector was ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic. (Photo: Reuters)

People sunbathe on the beach in Barcelona. Spain is jumpstarting its summer tourism season by welcoming vaccinated visitors from most countries as well as European visitors who can prove they are not infected with coronavirus. (Photo: AP)

A Croatian border police office inspects travel documents at the border crossing between Croatia and Slovenia. The European Union wants to revamp Europe's ID check-free travel area after coronavirus restrictions placed new strains on tourism and business travel throughout the bloc. (Photo: AP)

Visitors gather at the Eiffel Tower, in Paris on Wednesday. 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. (Photo: AP)

Tourists stand outside the arrivals terminal after arriving in Malta as Malta officially restarted its tourism season. (Photo: Reuters)

People sunbathe near the beach in Barcelona, Spain on Tuesday as Spain reopens for tourism. (Photo: AP)

A man drives a scooter on the beach in Cyprus, Cypriot hotel and other tourism-related business owners say they'd like to see the COVID-19 pandemic-induced uncertainty over travel bookings to winding down by July when they're hoping authorities in Cyprus' main markets including the U.K., Russia, Germany and the Scandinavian countries will make it easier for their citizens to travel abroad. (Photo: AP)