(CNN) – In downtown Buffalo, New York, crossing the border into Ontario, Canada, it used to be as easy as driving a mile across the Peace Bridge over the Niagara River. But that is now the forbidden route.

Because the United States has more confirmed coronavirus cases than anywhere else in the world, with an increasing number in several states every day, US travelers may not be allowed in the near future.

“US opportunities are near zero,” an EU diplomat told CNN. “With their infection rates … they can’t even believe in that possibility.”

Where does this new world order leave US citizens with a tendency to travel?

Nostalgia for the pre-Covid period when a US passport promised access to most of the world? Worried about how they will be felt – and accepted – by foreign countries when restrictions are finally relaxed?

The future of American travel, and whether they will be accepted again as tourists, is unclear; in many cases, these are points that can be debated while traveling to certain areas is prohibited.

Not invited

And for many people, that’s how it should be.

Canadian travel is unlikely to be a summer vacation choice for Americans while the Covid-19 outbreak in the US continues to swell.

Courtesy of Via Rail Canada

Colleen Friesen, who lives in a small resort town in British Columbia, hopes the US-Canada border will remain closed.

“The majority of Canadians are very opposed to letting Americans into the country because of the rampant US infection rate. Although some countries seem to be managing a pandemic, when we see news about Oklahoma allowing indoor demonstrations, we just shake our heads together,” Friesen gave know CNN Travel via email.

Stacey McKenna, based in Colorado, is not ready to think of international travel in any form at this time, although she determined that it was partly because the places on her radar were “very economically and geographically vulnerable,” and she would not be willing to take the risk of exposing anyone.

“I think if I reach a place where I feel international travel (or even air) will be appropriate, then I will start asking myself if I think I will be accepted.”

For a New York-based travel writer, Juliet Izon, who canceled a summer vacation in Italy a few months ago when there was still a glimmer of hope that things could continue, seeing where the United States compared to other countries was disappointing and depressing.

Izon believes he will travel to Italy one day but said, “I will not be surprised if in certain countries if they do not allow Americans for a while or very strict quarantine for years to come,” adding that handling the United States against Covid-19 is likely to become “another black mark against us.”

Another? The state of US politics.

Friesen, who said he respected his country’s politicians who took a back seat to the scientific and medical community, was afraid the way the virus in the United States “became politicized.”

France is moving through the reopening stage, but US citizens are not yet on the list of countries that can visit.

BERTRAND GUAY / AFP through Getty Images

But an EU diplomat, who spoke to CNN earlier this week on condition of anonymity, called the US-EU travel decision a very sensitive matter and stressed “it’s only about health.”

“To be sure, you can see nothing on the list as something political, when one country is allowed in and another is not, but this is a wrong representation of what we are doing. We want to open our borders, this is a positive step.”

Despite this statement and the insistence of European Union diplomats that “we want people to come,” the changed travel landscape has some people’s attention.

“Instead of thinking about an upcoming trip, I have considered how all of this will affect xenophobia more generally,” McKenna said.

Holistic experience

Dennis Geronimus, professor and chair of art history at the University of New York, has historically combined business trips and holidays, often to Italy. He personally does not worry about how he will be received when he travels internationally again – and he is someone who might be able to travel on certain foreign lands long before other Americans.

This is largely due to the nature of his journey. Geronimus is usually hosted by international colleagues and admits that it is “different from going on vacation to a place without getting to know anyone and then just diving into the culture and going to see the site and see other foreigners on the site too.”

At this time, American travelers cannot go to Italy and cities like Rome (above), at least not for pure holiday travel.

ALBERTO PIZZOLI / AFP through Getty Images

There are steps that Geronimus can take now to potentially be given restricted access for US vacation travelers, although he still needs to be quarantined.

However, although he wanted to see the Raphael exhibition in Rome and collaborate with his colleagues in Italy, he did not plan a trip to the region in the near future.

It might be considered important, but Geronimus did not see it as important enough. Instead, professors will prefer to focus on the steps needed to continue classes on-site at NYU this fall.

Likewise, McKenna, who has a background in medical anthropology and public health, is thinking about something bigger: “I’ll be honest. I haven’t even come to the question of whether I think I would feel accepted as an American” because of the trip international is not right now.

Said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, “We have worked with countries around the world, including our friends in Europe and the European Union to determine how best to reopen international travel safely. It is important for the United States to get people Europe has the capacity to travel back to the United States. “

Safety first

This is not about Americans, said New Zealand’s Elen Turner, although it is difficult to ignore the restrictions that affect them along with the number of deaths and confirmed Covid cases.

“I think once the border is reopened properly, New Zealanders will be as friendly as Americans as are other tourists,” Turner said.

But Friesen, who has problems with handling the US pandemic, said, “Given the urgency of the pandemic protocol we have seen in the US, we just don’t believe that America will do the right thing.

While New Zealand can form a travel bubble with Australia, chances are Americans will not be allowed in the near future.

Courtesy Shutterstock

However, for so many people who talk to CNN Travel, the health and safety of others – and doing what is right – is most important.

Chicago-based photographer and writer Joshua Mellin said: “I think to travel abroad for fun now shows a lack of care, you deserve whatever you get.”

Mellin added: “I personally think that we are all citizens of the world, but there is still the fact that you have no right to access a foreign country, you are granted entry permission.”

When it comes to giving foreigners entry, Turner will feel comfortable accepting cues from the New Zealand government. Currently, returning New Zealanders must be quarantined for two weeks upon arrival, and no-one else is allowed to enter.

If, on the phone, quarantine is applied to all visitors to New Zealand, then what?

“So if it will be extended to all arrivals then I think New Zealand will be fine with that because generally, our government has handled the pandemic well and there is a high level of trust in them,” Turner said.

He added, however, that he did not see this happening, did not imagine New Zealand opening up to foreigners until quarantine was no longer needed.

The idea of ​​pre-holiday quarantine is the subject of careful research.

‘We reopen’

Although forced quarantine will deter many travelers, other areas that do not have quarantine might entice them.

US tourists can fly to Mexico, but for many people, the risks are not worth it. Photo: Parroquia de San Miguell Arcángel in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.

Shutterstock

Whether hotel promotions or enhancements or relaxed policies about cancellations, the sweet “we opened” choir has the potential to jump start what has become a very dark period in the tourism sector.

For many US travelers who CNN Travel speak for this story, being welcomed or feeling welcome in another country is the point.

Danger of exposure and exposure to looms. And then there is the fear of being trapped somewhere far away.

Elizabeth Lavis, originally from upstate New York, found herself scrambling to get out of Vietnam in March amid a sudden outbreak and travel restrictions. The ordeal and what has happened with coronavirus since then has made Lavis reluctant to go away from home for the foreseeable future.

California-based writer Melanie Haikan wants to go to Costa Rica at some point and only observe places that are very interested in visitors.

Nell Lewis

California resident Melanie Haiken expressed a desire to help an economy that is struggling as a tourist and is already thinking about her future trips, which include places not so close to home: “Regarding international travel, I will be ready to travel again in August, but would want to go to places that are very interested in visitors. I pay attention to Guatemala and Costa Rica, Turkey and Jordan, Scotland, Estonia, and several other places that seem to be candidates based on safety and how much their economy depends on tourism. “

Turkey, it seems, is likely a candidate. On June 19, Turkish Airlines relaunched two North American routes to Istanbul with two other routes (Miami and Los Angeles) on June 22 and 24 respectively. At the end of July, three additional US hubs will operate flights to Turkey.

Any EU travel ban could change the situation, but on June 23, when CNN spoke with Connecticut-based Caryn B. Davis about his upcoming trip to the Azores in Portugal, the travel journalist said he still planned to leave, hopefully in the future next six weeks.

Pompeo stated the importance of the economy in traveling between the US and the European Union, said “It is important for the United States to make Europeans have the capacity to travel back to the United States. Importantly, it is very important for Europeans to reconnect fully with America. the economy too.”

But until security problems can be adequately addressed, Mellin doesn’t think anyone, a US citizen or not, should go anywhere.

“There is a responsibility to show respect for other people and places as wanderers who start at home and are inherently damaged by visiting other countries during the global pandemic.”

But in reality, international travel can be continued sooner than later in some places that are currently off limits. “I am sure in the coming weeks we will think of it as between not only the United States and the European Union, but the United States and other parts of the world, too,” Pompeo said.

What does it taste like?

“I think if there is something, when we travel, of course my hope is that we carry empathy wherever we go …,” Geronimus said.

James Brothers of CNN, Michael Conte and Luke McGee contributed to reporting this story.