Negative travel advice for Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Maarten; Entire world now on "code orange"

The Dutch government escalated its travel advice for Aruba, Bonaire and Sint Maarten from code yellow to code orange, which means that all but absolutely necessary trips to the islands are strongly discouraged. The negative travel advice was not issued because of the coronavirus situation on the islands, but because of the situation in the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a debate in parliament, NOS reports.

Aruba, Bonaire and Sint Maarten were the last Caribbean parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that did not yet have negative travel advice. The Canary Islands were also still on code yellow, which allows recreational travel as long as travelers adhere to local Covid-19 measures, but they will also go to code orange on Wednesday.

This means that the entire world now has negative travel advice from the Netherlands, being either on code orange or red. In parliament on Tuesday, Rutte again stressed that only absolutely necessary travel is allowed. "If you are so impudent to still go winter sporting, that's really anti-social!" he said.

A number of parliamentary parties were annoyed by photos of a crowded Schiphol while shops and schools have to be closed. Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen of Infrastructure will again talk to the airlines and point out to them that negative travel advice now applies to the entire world. According to Rutte, if that does not have the required effect, a complete flight ban is the only other option. "But believe me, nobody wants that. We can't shut down all civil aviation."

The Schiphol website shows that KLM still has a large number of flights scheduled for today. According to the broadcaster, the Dutch airline recently scheduled four extra flights to Bonaire before Christmas. A spokesperson could not tell NOS whether these flights will be canceled.