EU COVID-19 passports, vaccines helped European tourism recovery -UN report

Visitors queue to check the COVID-19 health certificates, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, at the entrance of a Christmas market on the Sechselaeutenplatz square, in Zurich, Switzerland November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

MADRID (Reuters) - Widespread use of COVID-19 certificates and successful vaccine roll-outs helped tourism in the European Union recover faster from the coronavirus pandemic than elsewhere in the world in the third quarter of 2021, a U.N. report said on Monday.

International tourist arrivals rose 58% around the world between July and September compared to the same period in 2020, the U.N. World Tourism Organisation barometer said, though this was 64% below the same, pre-pandemic period in 2019.