COVID-19 Response: Country by Country Travel Restrictions Reopening Policies - Lokal Travel

There’s nothing more clear right now than how connected we are.

A lot of us find that connection in travel - commonalities and shared moments that are reminders that we’re all one community on this planet. But COVID has brought that truth to us. Our collective health is our individual health; there is no “us” and “them”, only “we” and “our health." It's been over a year since the world was hit with Covid and society as we know it came to a screeching halt. As challenging as this last year has been it has also brought us closer together, and helped us understand what truly is important to us. We’ve slowed down, learned challenging lessons, and undoubtedly see the world differently now.

With a renewed perspective the world slowly begins to open again, as does the possibility of travel. Culturally immersive and sustainable travel has never been as relevant as it is now. Whenever the time is right, we can support your journey to safely travel again. Many of our partners around the world have shifted dramatically this last year, and some unfortunately even had to close up shop. But the majority have persevered, and are eager to welcome responsible travelers back to their communities. We are eager to help you get there.Be in touch, we look forward to hearing from you.

The Lokal Team

Country by Country Travel Restrictions/Reopening Policies - Updated 5/12/2021

For those curious about which countries have reopened and what their policies are please reference this regularly updated interactive map for a country by country assessment on open/closed borders, and which citizens from which countries are allowed to enter. See below for a quick summary of policies in some of Lokal’s main destinations.

• Costa Rica: International travel is allowed. A "Pase de Salud" form must be completed before departure of the flight to Costa Rica. This will generate a QR code which must be presented upon arrival. This needs to be done and completed 24 hours before departure in order to receive the QR code to be able to enter Costa Rica. The QR code needs to be handy on your cell phone or in print out all the time. Passengers must have travel insurance with coverage of Coronavirus (COVID-19) treatment and accommodation costs purchased through INS, Blue Cross Blue Shield or Sagicur. Please refer to this article for more information on requirements solicited by the Costa Rican government in order to visit the country.

• Mexico: International travel is allowed. Visitors must fill out the following risk assessment form before entering the country.

• Guatemala: Inernational travel is allowed. Passengers who have been in or transited through Brazil, South Africa or United Kingdom in the past 14 days in are not allowed to enter. Passengers must have a medical certificate with a negative COVID-19 PCR or antigen test result issued at most 72 hours before arrival. This does not apply to passengers younger than 10 years.

• Brazil: International travel is allowed. Flights from South Africa and the United Kingdom are suspended. Passengers who in the past 14 days have been in or transited through South Africa or the United Kingdom are not allowed to enter or transit through Brazil. Passengers must have a medical certificate with a negative Coronavirus (COVID-19) RT-PCR test result. The test must have been taken at most 72 hours before departure from the first embarkation point. Passengers must complete a Traveler's Health Declaration form before departure and pr esent it upon arrival. The form can be found at The certificate must be in English, Portuguese or Spanish.

• Peru: International travel is allowed. Until May 30 2021, flights from Brazil, India and South Africa are suspended. Until May 30 2021, passengers are not allowed to enter if in the past 14 days they have been to or transited through Brazil, India or South Africa. Passengers must have a medical certificate with a negative Coronavirus (COVID-19) RT-PCR test result issued at most 72 hours before departure from the first embarkation point. Passengers must also complete an Affidavit of Health and Geolocation Authorization 72 hours before departure. Passengers are subject to quarantine for up to 14 days

• Colombia: International travel is allowed. Flights from Brazil and United Kingdom are suspended. Passengers arriving from or who have transited through Brazil or United Kingdom are not allowed to enter. Passengers must have a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken at most 96 hours before departure. A check-mig form must be submitted at most 24 hours before departure.

• Nepal: Flights to Nepal are suspended until at least May 31, 2021.

Helping Our Customers For those traveling now and with upcoming travel bookings, our team is working diligently to provide everyone the support they need. Our focus is helping travelers with immediate trips, we will do our best to accommodate all extenuating circumstances.

Recommending Flexible Options If you are planning new travel, we strongly encourage you to book flights with built-in flexibility like free cancellation, as well buy travel insurance which can help to cover unforeseen changes.

Lokal’s Cancellation Policy Lokal works with hundreds of small, local businesses around the world for our trips and we respect their individual cancellation policies. Please review the details posted on the tour page for the trip you’d like to book to get the specifics. Here are typical cancellation policies:

• Day trips and short excursions - most can be cancelled or changed up to 1 week before your tour date with no charge (except minor credit card processing).

• Personalized trips - tours that include lodging, activities and transportation require more advance notice and typically need to be cancelled 30 days or more in advance to get a full refund.

Given the exceptional circumstances and evolving travel restrictions, we are doing everything possible to secure refunds or re-book all trips for travelers affected by the Covid-19 situation. Our partners are small businesses whose livelihoods are greatly affected by the growing number of cancellations. Since this is an unprecedented situation we are reaching out one by one to discuss refunds and changes to bookings. If you have any questions about your trip or our policies, please email hello@lokaltravel.com and we will work with you personally to come up with a solution.

Other helpful resources: As this situation rapidly evolves, we know there is an atmosphere of uncertainty so we’ve added a few articles that can help inform your decision making.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) has updates on heavily impacted destinations.

• Consult the CDC website for the most up-to-date information. For the most recent information on what you can do to reduce your risk of contracting COVID-19 please see the CDC’s latest recommendations.

• A situation dashboard developed by Johns Hopkins University.

• Visit the COVID-19 crisis page on travel.state.gov for information from the State Department.

• Please reference this regularly updated interactive map for which countries have implemented a travel restriction or ban because of COVID-19, and which countries are open for tourism.

• Watch our award-winning documentary to gain insight into Costa Rica's community tourism industry, and see the beauty of the Osa Peninsula.