The EU’s post-Brexit Entry/Exit System (EES) is due to launch in November, but recent reports suggest it may face further delays.

In August, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson confirmed the border checks would come into force on 10 November.

“The moment is finally there. There may have been times you believed it will never happen,” Johansson said during a visit to the Tallinn-based eu-LISA, the EU agency in charge of the IT infrastructure behind the EES.

“But it’s going to happen. Everything is coming together. We’re in the final testing phase. There is a real momentum now. Carriers, operators, train stations, airports, everyone is getting ready for the big day.”

The EES was first slated to launch in 2022 but has faced multiple setbacks due to IT issues and delays in installing the automated barriers required at all international land, maritime and air borders in the Schengen Area.

A new report in UK newspaper the Guardian suggests there may now be further delays as three countries raise concerns about the lack of trials of onsite trials of the technology.

Germany, France and the Netherlands are believed to have said they are not ready to introduce the system.

As yet, there has been no official update from EU authorities with Frontex, the Border and Coast Guard Agency, declining to comment.

When the new system does become operational, non-EU travellers entering the Schengen Area will face new border controls.

Which travellers will need to use the EES?

The Entry/Exit Systemwill be an automated registration system for UK and other non-EU travellers who don’t require a visa to enter the EU.

Travellers will need to scan their passports or other travel document at a self-service kiosk each time they cross an EU external border. It will not apply to legal EU citizens or residents or those with long-stay visas.

The system will register the traveller’s name, biometric data, and the date and place of entry and exit. Facial scans and fingerprint data will be taken every three years and are valid for multiple trips within that period.

It will apply when entering all EU member states, apart from Cyprus and Ireland, as well as four non-EU countries in the Schengen Area: Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

The EES is being introduced to bolster border security and identify travellers who overstay their permitted time in the Schengen Area (90 days within a 180 day period).

“With the EES we will know exactly who enters the Schengen area with a foreign passport,” Johansson said.

“We will know if people stay too long, countering irregular migration. And the EES will make it harder for criminals, terrorists or Russian spies to use fake passports thanks to biometric identification, photos and fingerprints.”

Will the EES cause travel delays?

In the UK and elsewhere, there are concerns that the EES could increase delays at border checkpoints.

In a European Council report released by non-profit Statewatch, various countries express concern over the EES implementation delays. Last year, they said the amount of time they will have to test the system prior to its launch was rapidly decreasing.

French authorities will operate EES border checks at the UK’s Port of Dover, Eurostar and Eurotunnel. They are currently working with the UK government to minimise the system’s impact on border flows and traffic, but express concern about potential waiting times.

Government agencies and representatives for the tourism industry have said that the EES will likely cause long queues for ferry traffic sailing from Dover to Calais.

Guy Opperman, a minister in the UK’s transport department, has since explained the scheme will have a “six-month soft launch” to make the process more simple.

“If one got to a situation where there were a certain amount of queues or delays, then the provisions of the precautionary flexibility measures allow for much greater freedom of passage of vehicles, coaches, HGVs and cars,” he said. “That takes care of so much of the queuing, so many of the complications.”

Other countries are still working on EES implementation plans, too. The European Commission has suggested that the system may need to be introduced in a gradual and flexible way to reduce the likelihood of long waiting times at borders.

Is ETIAS still on track?

Roughly six months after the launch of the EES will see the introduction of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS).

This new scheme obligates non-EU citizens who do not require an EU visa to gain travel authorisation to enter the bloc (as opposed to the EES which is a monitoring system of border crossings by third-country nationals). The visa waiver will be mandatory for anyone wishing to visit the Schengen Area short term.

ETIAS was originally set to be operational from November 2023. However, the European Commission now states that it will come into force in 2025.

While an exact date is not provided, the EU has previously indicated that it will be introduced five to six months after EES. There may be an implementation period where it is gradually introduced alongside the Entry/Exit System.

Travellers will be able to apply for ETIAS online before their trip at a cost of €7. Once approved, the electronic travel authorisation will be electronically linked to their passport and will last for three years.

Click here for full details on the ETIAS.

Singapore has risen to the top of a ranking of the world’s strongest passports, knocking Spain off the top spot.

Despite that blow for the country, European nations – including Spain, now relegated to second place – make up the rest of the top five.

VisaGuide.World’s ranking is seen as one of the most reliable within the travel industry, along with the Henley Passport Index.

The company evaluates 199 countries and territories globally and bases its results on factors including visa-free access, eVisas, and global mobility.

It then uses its own Destination Significance Score (DSS) to assign a unique value to each passport, although the DSS is not revealed in the ranking.

With this system, VisaGuide.World has found that the Singaporean passport is officially the strongest passport in the entire world – with a score of 91.27 out of a possible 100 as of September 2024.

Spain in second place, with a score of 90.60 is closely followed by France, whose score is 90.53.

Next up are the Italian and Hungarian passports, which come in with scores of 90.31 and 90.28 respectively.

It’s good news for Europe overall, with only one other country not on the continent, Japan, in the top 20. Japan takes 15th place, the same position as last year.

Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria round out the top 10 ranking.

How does VisaGuide.World rank passports?

Released four times a year, VisaGuide.World’s passport ranking examines the number of destinations passport holders can access without a visa. Henley, usually thought of as the authority, takes a similar approach but has yet to release its ranking for this quarter.

VisaGuide.World takes other factors into consideration, creating its DSS for each travel destination.

That score factors in the type of entry policy each country enforces on an individual passport. That encompasses visa-free entry, Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), visa on arrival, e-Visas embassy approved visas, passport-free travel or banned entry.

This means the next ranking could look very different as Schengen countries introduce the Entry/Exit System (ETS) and ETIAS visa waiver for some non-EU countries and the UK rolls out its ETA.

The DSS also assigns points for the country’s GDP, global power and tourism development.

Not all of its criteria are considered equal, though. Visa-free access to a country with a high DSS earns a passport more points in the index than entry to a country with a low score.

The fact that VisaGuide.World does not specify the DSS of each country means that other factors may also affect the outcome of the index.

Why did Spain fall to second place in the ranking?

In VisaGuide.World’s last ranking, Spanish passport holders could travel visa-free to 160 countries and territories. In September’s results, that number has fallen to just 107.

It appears to be a drop across the board, though. Singaporean passport holders could previously visit 164 places without a visa but today, that only applies to 160.

While the ranking doesn’t explicitly say why this is the case, it is a regularly-changing figure due to shifting diplomatic ties, mutual visa policies, and the political and economic stability of countries and territories globally.

Spain, though, and all the European countries in the top 20 do have a benefit that Singapore doesn’t. Passport holders of these nations can travel to more than 30 countries without using their passports at all, thanks to the existence of the European Union and the Schengen zone.

For these citizens, travelling with just an ID card is possible, making freedom of movement simple.

With that in mind, perhaps the drop from top spot in this ranking won’t make too many Spanish citizens unhappy after all.

As the main tourist season winds down, cities are putting in place legislation to control overtourism and crack down on badly-behaved visitors alongside landlords who run illegal accommodation.

Valencia in eastern Spain has announced its plans to cut off electricity and water for illegal tourist accommodation in the city.

The mayor, María José Catalá, believes that the providing of too much water and electricity to short-term lets has a serious impact on permanent residents.

Local media reported that she told the State of the City Debate the existence of tourist apartments “impacts the price of rents, displaces the population,… implies the gradual disappearance of local commerce in favour of shops for tourists, and implies an imbalance in public provisions” which favours tourists over locals.

Catalá appears to be taking the situation very seriously. On behalf of the city council, she has requested the power to sanction illegal tourist apartments, and impose fines of up to €600,000 on landlords who refuse to comply with the new laws.

Records show that, under Catalá, inspections of tourist apartments have increased by 454 per cent this year alone and that police activity against illegal tourist apartments has risen from 73 reports in 2022 to 449 so far in 2024. The closure of some 278 illegal residences has already been ordered this year.

Valencia is following in the footsteps of Seville

The move comes after the council of the southern Spanish city of Seville was told it was within its rights to cut off the water supply to illegal tourist accommodation.

Before the decision was made in late August, Seville had already disconnected the supply to six apartments which were found to be illegal.

While three of the owners appealed, the judge accepted the council’s argument that the apartments were not the owners’ residences, instead taking the sides of neighbours who had complained about noise.

Seville’s council believes there are some 5,000 illegal apartments in the city, in addition to 10,000 legally licenced ones.

Officials confirmed that the water supply would only be restored once the apartments have reverted back to being regular residences.

Tourism in Seville has boomed since the end of the COVID pandemic. The city of just 700,000 people has seen an influx of around 3.5 million visitors a year, most of them choosing to stay in the small historical centre.

Valencia is also considering restrictions on cruise ships in the city

Back in Valencia, and the mayor has also suggested that the city may move to change the rules on cruise ships docking there in the future.

Saying the issue of the boats “deserves reflection” Catalá floated the idea of “limiting and reducing the arrival of mega-cruise ships”.

She announced that there are plans in the works to set up a permanent group with members of the City Council, the Port Authority and the cruise sector “to regulate cruise traffic”.

“We want to design a shared social and environmental sustainability strategy for cruises and ensure quality cruise tourism, seeking the deseasonalisation of stopovers, the distribution of the flow of cruise passengers at the destination and planning,” she said.

Catalá also indicated her team will “prioritise those ships that use Valencia as a base port, that is, those that spend the night in the city and, therefore, that generate a greater economic impact and… seek quality tourism.”

Budapest plans to ban short-term rentals

Hungary’s capital is also cracking down on overtourism, and has just announced it will be banning all short-term rentals in the city.

Budapest residents narrowly voted to ban this form of accommodation – but it won’t come into effect until 1 January 2026.

It won’t be a sweeping measure, however.

From 2026, the ban will only affect one small part of Budapest, District VI, also known as Terézváros.

Despite its relative diminutive size, the ban will likely be felt with some significance as it’s one of the most densely populated areas of the city.

54 per cent of people living there voted in the affirmative on the ban and it’s now suggested it might be just the first of such decisions to be made.

Victor Orban’s government has reportedly been keen to put bans like this in place across the country.

Many people in Hungary are unhappy over short-term lets contributing to an ongoing housing shortage as well as unaffordability for local residents.

Athens will ban some new short-term lets from 2025

Greece’s capital has also announced its plans to ban new short-term lets from 1 January 2025, although the move only seems to be temporary at the moment.

Just one day after the Budapest decision, Greece’s government has announced it will stop issuing new short-term rental licences in the first, second and third municipal districts in the centre of Athens

For now, the restriction will only remain in place for 12 months.

After that period, authorities will take a close look at whether the ban has had enough of an impact on overtourism and the local housing situation before deciding whether or not to extend it.

Previously, the government had only wanted to test out the scheme for 90 days, but it was soon decided that would not have been long enough.

Instead, the year-long trial will apply to districts where short-term lets comprise more than 5 per cent of the total housing stock and, therefore, have a noticeable impact on the lives of residents.

Authorities in Athens will also work with landlords to encourage them to be more considerate to locals and the environment.

Athens tourist tax to rise

Following a summer of natural disasters related to climate change, the local government will impose a daily tax on short-term rentals to deal with the ongoing crisis.

During the busy April to October period, the tax will increase from the current €1.5 a day to €8.

In the low season, it will go up from €0.50 to €2 per day, according to news agency Reuters.

Despite overtourism and forest fires, which have seen countless evacuations, 2024 is set to be a record year for Greece in terms of tourism revenue. It’s expected the country’s income from the sector could reach up to €22 billion by the end of the year.

Such measures haven’t affected other European tourism hotspots too negatively in the recent past.

In August, following the lead of cities like London, Dublin, Amsterdam and Paris, the Czech capital announced it’s planning to limit the amount of short-term tourist accommodation available.

Prague’s authorities are hoping that the proposed move will bring down real estate prices – and ensure residents are not forced out by tourists.

Barcelona has gone one step further still.

The popular Spanish coastal city has announced plans which, it hopes, will eliminate all tourist rentals by 2028. Reaction has been mixed there, however, among local Catalans and the city’s large foreign-born population, which has now reached a significant 25 per cent.