The EU’s long-delayed Entry/Exit System (EES) is scheduled to finally come into force in 2025.

Officials say Europe’s new digital border system for non-EU nationals will be rolled out beginning in October this year. The exact date will be announced “several months prior to its launch”, according to Foreign Office guidance.

The system 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).

The new system requires Europe’s border crossings to have dedicated infrastructure installed. The UK government has reportedly provided Eurostar, Eurotunnel and the Port of Dover with £3.5 million (€4.1 million) each to spend on registration kiosks.

Eurostar will have 50 kiosks at three locations in stations while Eurotunnel will have over 100 kiosks and says EES checks will only add around five minutes to journey times.

The Port of Dover will have 24 kiosks for coach passengers and will register car passengers using staff members and tablets.

However, it’s expected that as little as 10 per cent of Europe’s border crossings will have this infrastructure installed when EES launches, so concerns are growing over how it will affect wait times at border crossings.

How will the EES affect border crossings?

The EES will be a registration system for UK, US and other non-EU travellers. It will only apply to those who don’t require a visa to enter the EU.

Travellers will need to scan their passports or other travel documents 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.

The system means that new barriers have to be installed at all international land, maritime and air borders in the Schengen Area. These are said to be heavy, with some airports saying they have had to reinforce their floors to support them. This is just one of the myriad reasons for the system’s nearly nine-year delay.

Eurostar scraps fast-track check-in system

The EES’s scanning requirements have forced European train company Eurostar to change its check-in system at the UK border.

The rail operator has scrapped a service that lets selected passengers skip the double passport control at London’s St Pancras train station.

From February, Eurostar stopped its SmartCheck option for Premium, Carte Blanche, and Etoile Club members.

The service allowed passengers who register their details on the iProov.me identification app to take advantage of facial recognition technology at St Pancras. This let them bypass the manual passport check by a UK immigration officer and go directly to French passport control.

However, the system has been removed ahead of the introduction of the EES to prepare for the facial scanning and fingerprinting requirement for Brits upon entering the EU for the first time.

There are concerns that the new system will lengthen passenger processing times at St Pancras, though Eurostar says they will increase control kiosks to minimise disruption.

“We’re removing SmartCheck as we continue to make some changes at the station in preparation for the launch of the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES),” Eurostar said in a statement.

“As part of these preparations, we’re improving our border control area with new ePassport gates and extra passport control booths.

“This will help us ensure the border control process is as smooth as possible for passengers travelling in the coming months and after EES has launched.”

Delays expected at Dover ferry crossings

French authorities will also operate EES border checks at the UK’s Port of Dover. 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.”

Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, has also now confirmed that the system will not be introduced until November 2025.

EES automated barriers will be gradually introduced to minimise delays

Other countries are still working on EES implementation plans, too. The European Commission (EC) is allowing a six-month phased implementation of the system to reduce the likelihood of long waiting times at borders.

This approach will give the participating nations more flexibility to fine-tune their technology and navigate unexpected issues.

The goal, according to the EC, is to have the new system working at 10 per cent of border crossings in every member state on day one. During this soft launch period, travellers’ passports will continue to be stamped, as well as electronically recorded.

Hikers will have to pay to climb up Mount Fuji using any of its four main paths starting from this summer.

Under a new bill passed on Monday, an entry fee of ¥4,000 (€24.70) will be introduced in time for peak season.

Japan’s highest mountain has been struggling with overtourism. A dramatic increase in visitors is causing pollution and safety concerns.

To help clean up the mountain and preserve its environment, authorities previously introduced a fee and a daily visitor cap along the most popular trail in 2024.

Last summer, visitors to Mount Fuji had to pay ¥2,000 (€12.35) to hike up the Yoshida trail. This is the most popular ascent thanks to its easy access from Tokyo and the frequency of mountain huts en route offering accommodation and meals.

Japan’s Yamanashi prefectural government, which oversees hiking activities at the UNESCO World Heritage site, deemed it necessary to introduce the toll to protect the environment.

It also implemented a 4,000 people per day limit on hikers using the Yoshida trail to ease congestion.

Now, the fee to hike the iconic trail is doubling to ¥4,000 (€24.70), a charge which will also apply to three other routes that were previously free.

Hikers will have to pay between July and September, which is the peak climbing season.

Last year, authorities said the proceeds would be used to construct shelters along the path for use in the event of a volcanic eruption and to maintain the hiking route.

Since 2014, climbers ascending the mountain via any of its trails have also been encouraged to voluntarily pay ¥1,000 (€6.20) per person towards the preservation of the site.

Mount Fuji regulations have helped tackle overtourism

The restrictions that were brought in last year proved to be effective, reducing the number of visitors ascending Mount Fuji from 221,322 in 2023 to 204,316, according to figures from Japan’s environment ministry.

Another measure brought in last year to curb overtourism in a nearby town has also proved effective.

Fujikawaguchiko got so fed up with tourist crowds that they built a huge fence blocking the view they were coming for – Mount Fuji.

The 20-metre long and 2.5-metre high fence covered with a black mesh prevented tourists from taking selfies with the landmark after incidents of littering, crossing dangerously through busy traffic, ignoring traffic lights and trespassing into private properties.

The barrier was taken down in August as a precaution when a typhoon was forecast, but authorities decided not to reinstall it as it proved to have been effective.

They warned, however, that it could be put back up if tourists return in large numbers.

Lilau Square looks warm and languid in the fading daylight.

Like any Portuguese plaza, time moves slowly here. Locals chat over coffee beside a kiosk. Travellers take photos beside whitewashed buildings. A couple pauses to admire the ‘calçada’, the smooth, swirling tiles found anywhere the Portuguese left a footprint.

If it weren’t for the 200-year-old banyan tree and melodic rise and fall of Cantonese in the air, you might mistake this corner of Macao for a quiet Lisbon neighbourhood.

I glance at a fountain spurting water into a shallow pool and think of an old saying about this place: anyone who drinks its water will someday return to Macao.

I’m not sure I’ve knowingly had the water from the fountain, but this is my sixth trip to the city, each a little longer than the last. Every time, I find myself drawn back into the extraordinary cultural tapestry, uncovering something new about Macao’s Portuguese past and falling for it all over again.

There may be something to that legend after all.

Macao is more than just a gaming capital

Mention Macao, and most people think of casinos. Fair or not, the city has earned its reputation as a gambling powerhouse.

In 2024, it raked in nearly €25 billion in gambling revenue – almost entirely from baccarat, the card game of choice for mainland Chinese bettors.

But long before it became Asia’s casino capital, Macao was a vital outpost in Portugal’s global empire.

Lured by its strategic location in the Pearl River Delta, the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century and the colony soon became a key trading hub.

Macao’s fortunes ebbed and flowed over the centuries. By the 1990s, it had become a city of vice dominated by Dr. Stanley Ho – ‘the godfather of gambling’ – and his casino monopoly.

After more than 400 years of colonial rule, Portugal handed Macao over to China in 1999. Beijing wasted no time reshaping the city. They even reclaimed land to merge two islands – Taipa and Coloane – creating the Cotai Strip, now home to extravagant casino-resorts.

The once-impoverished enclave rapidly transformed into one of the world’s wealthiest.

Echoes of Portugal resonate in old Macao

On a perfect January morning, a soft sun shining in a bright blue sky, I meet Mariana César de Sá for a walking tour of Macao’s UNESCO-listed historic centre.

Born and raised in Macao, César de Sá publishes ‘Macao News’, the city’s leading English-language news and lifestyle source. She takes pride in showing visitors the city beyond its cavernous casino-resorts.

We meet behind Macao’s most famous landmark, the Ruins of St. Paul’s. Only the stone facade remains of this 17th-century Catholic church, destroyed by a fire centuries earlier.

Before braving the tourist throngs gathered in front of the cathedral frame, which lords over old Macao like a gateway to the past, we slip into a neighbourhood beyond the former city walls – the Pátio do Espinho. Once a settlement for the exiled Japanese Christians who built the church, today it’s a sleepy enclave of single-storey homes.

“I like to take visitors here first. It’s full of history but also a taste of real life,” de Sá tells me.

It’s also a reminder of how far the Portuguese ventured during the Age of Discovery – how their customs, architecture and religion took root in the most distant corners of the world.

Walk through history to see the best of Macao

From the ruins, we wander through the Travessa da Paixão, ‘passion street’ – a cobblestoned alley lined with pastel-hued colonial buildings that has become a magnet for wedding photos – and walk slowly through narrow alleys to Senado Square.

When we reach the square, the city’s calçada-paved civic heart since the 16th century, de Sá gestures toward a hulking white building: the Municipal Affairs Bureau.

“It was the original city hall from the 18th century – and it’s still that today – but most people don’t realise you can go into it,” she says, stepping inside a peaceful Portuguese courtyard lined with azulejos (blue and white ceramic tiles) depicting scenes from Macao’s history.

The whole historic centre is full of secret spaces and centuries-old buildings that continue to function today. The canary-yellow St. Lawrence Church built by Jesuits still holds services. The coral-coloured Macau Military Club, once only for military men, now welcomes guests into its excellent Portuguese restaurant.

Some, like the 19th-century Dom Pedro V Theatre, hold special meaning beyond history.

“It instantly transports me to Portugal,” says Sara Santos Silva, an expat from Porto who has lived in Macao for 10 years.

“During my early days in Macao, when I was blown away by the sensory overload of living in Asia, it felt nice to find myself in familiar surroundings: impeccable cobblestone, a kiosk just like the ones you’ll find in Lisbon, and the pale green facade of the theatre.”

Even the 15th-century A-Ma Temple, a shrine dedicated to the Chinese sea goddess Mazu, holds unexpected significance today. When Portuguese settlers arrived centuries ago, they misinterpreted the temple’s name – ‘A-ma-gok’ – as the name of the land itself.

Macao’s Portuguese history is a legacy best tasted

Maybe nothing speaks to this unique heritage like Macao’s food.

From tranquil Coloane and residential Taipa to the historic centre, decades-old restaurants serve Portuguese classics like ‘bacalhau à brás’ (salted cod mixed with onions, chopped fried potatoes and egg), grilled sardines, and baked duck rice.

“There’s no shortage of options. I know where to turn to for a better-than-decent ‘francesinha’ (Porto’s hefty sandwich), a proper ‘prego’ (steak sandwich) and a monkfish rice that instantly hits home,” says Silva. “This is not a one-stop-shop, though.”

In the picturesque St. Lazarus district, one restaurant group is proving that true.

Chaves-born brothers Pedro and Mauro Almeida, along with their business partner Ricardo and Hong Kong-born founder Asai, have turned several old buildings into landmarks for Portuguese food and wine. Their most famous project, Albergue 1601, serves grilled octopus, seafood rice stew and grilled Ibérico pork in a historic yellow house surrounded by centuries-old camphor trees.

But one of their newest ventures offers a more modern interpretation of Portugal.

Food is writing the next chapter in Macao’s Portuguese story

I meet Pedro, Ricardo and Asai at 3 Sardines on a quiet weeknight. As we eat ‘petiscos’ – Portugal’s answer to tapas – like ‘pica-pau’ (beef cubes with pickles) and fried peppers, I take in the magazine clippings on the wall and fish traps hung from the ceiling. When I run my hands over the soft red cushions I’m sitting on, Ricardo reads my mind.

“These are real executive seats from TAP planes from the 1950s,” he tells me. “Everything you see is a vintage item hand-picked from Portugal.”

Asai fell in love with Portuguese culture – especially its cuisine – after moving to Macao and made it his mission to revitalise its presence in the city. Today, the group runs four restaurants, a workshop space, and a pastry shop – all loving tributes to Portugal.

These projects have not only brought new energy to the previously overlooked St. Lazarus district: they have complemented its timeless institutions and little quirks of life that keep a 400-year-old connection alive.

“Most visitors are surprised by how present that heritage is in Macao,” Silva tells me.

“The street names are in Portuguese. Locals still throw a Portuguese word or two into daily conversation. All this doesn’t just immerse travellers in the heritage but also gives Portuguese residents a sense of belonging that’s honestly very hard to match.”