At the entrance gate, park staff wearing face guards will check the temperature of visitors and deny admission to those who have a temperature of 37.5C or higher.

Visitors will be asked to wear masks and use hand sanitizers. In addition, the park will request that visitors sit in every other row when on a roller coaster.

And when waiting in lines, they will be asked to stand at regular intervals following stickers that had been placed on the ground.

The park will also request that visitors not make physical contact with the themed characters.

Furthermore, at restaurants, visitors will be required to register with a tracking system introduced in Osaka in which a person who may have had contact with an infected person is notified via email.

“We’d like to propose a new way of enjoying the park while implementing preventive measures,” a senior official of the park said.

The park will be open again for the first time in about three months. From Monday to June 14, admission will be allowed only to Osaka Prefecture residents who have annual passes and have made prior reservations.

After June 15, admission will be allowed for all Osaka Prefecture residents with advance tickets.

The admission will be further expanded after June 19 to those who reside in the six prefectures in the Kansai region and hold annual passes.

“Ninety-seven degrees,” he told me in a slightly muffled voice.

Three degrees higher, and the resort would have turned me away, one of several protections against the coronavirus. But since I was fever-free, the security officer stepped aside, clearing the way to the luxury property and my first getaway since shutdowns began.

The pandemic knocked the breath out of the hospitality industry, but hotels across the country are slowly rising to their feet. According to Smith Travel Research, occupancy levels reached 35% between May 17 and 23, a notable improvement from early April, when 21 percent of hotel rooms were booked. To reassure guests, properties are implementing health and safety measures that rewrite the textbook on hospitality.

“It’s like a hotel opening,” Chris Baran, Nemacolin’s director of sales and marketing, said of resuming operations during the crisis. “We have to forget everything we know and do it this way.”

Nemacolin was one of the area’s first luxury properties to welcome back leisure travelers. In early May, the resort opened several dozen rooms at Falling Rock, its Fallingwater-inspired lodging. (The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home is about 10 miles away). It also resumed a bevy of activities, including golf, tennis, fly-fishing, paintball, basketball, safari tours and biking on 2,000 acres of trails. A few days shy of June, the hotel added accommodations at Chateau LaFayette, the opulent spread modeled after the Ritz in Paris, as well as the outdoor pools and Laurel Lane shops. On Friday, when several Pennsylvania counties advanced to the “green phase” of the state’s reopening plan, the resort started accepting appointments at its spa and fitness center. Its on-site restaurants also switched from takeout to sit-down service at reduced capacity, so guests would no longer have to eat pan-seared scallops or a 16-ounce rib eye off disposable plates.

The day Washington lifted its stay-at-home order, I was on the road to Pennsylvania. My mission: to see how the new protocols would affect the guest experience and whether they would help or hinder my ability to relax. Ultimately, I wanted to know if Nemacolin could liberate me from the burdens of my face mask – metaphorically speaking, of course.

The hospitality industry is facing a mountain of challenges. Properties can’t just swing open their doors and hand guests a welcome cocktail, even if the staff has thoroughly disinfected the door handles and prepared the drinks while swaddled in personal protective equipment. First and foremost, the hotels must adopt the rules and restrictions issued by the state and local governments. The reopening measures touch on nearly every aspect of the hotel experience, from the number of guests permitted inside the restaurants to the accessibility of the spas and fitness centers.

For example, the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans opened June 1 with 240 out of 570 rooms available. Its Criollo Restaurant can serve only 25% – or 25 seats – of its total capacity, and customers must provide a name and phone number for contact tracing purposes. Louisiana is not allowing stand-alone bars to open during its first phase; however, the hotel’s historic Carousel Bar and Lounge received the state’s blessing because it possesses a food service license. “We have to present guests with a bar menu, even if they don’t order from it,” explained hotel manager Stephen Caputo. As for the fitness center, only six guests can workout at a time. The spa, meanwhile, could remain shuttered until July.

“The objective is to create some sense of normalcy,” Caputo said, “even if it is restricted.”

To assist hotels as they tiptoe back, the American Hotel & Lodging Association created Stay Safe, a guide based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Protection and an advisory board composed of hoteliers. The measures promote practices recognizable to anyone who has shopped for groceries or ordered takeout during the pandemic, such as mandatory face coverings and no-contact food delivery. However, some of the suggestions are unique to hotels – for example, housekeeping should not enter a guest’s room unless the visitor has requested cleaning service.

“So many hotels operate differently – their constructions are different, and their travelers are different,” said Chip Rogers, the association’s president and chief executive. “We created a baseline for all hotels.”

Hotel chains have also assembled their own rule books and safety committees. Hilton launched the Hilton CleanStay program, a partnership with RB, the U.S. manufacturer of Lysol, and the Mayo Clinic Infection Prevention and Control. Marriott formed the Global Cleanliness Council, a body of experts from the public health, food safety and infectious-disease fields. Northwood Hospitality’s Safety and Well-Being Promise is centered on three principles: prevention, cleanliness and minimizing contact.

“The main challenge is how do the hotels create the confidence and cleanliness that is close to a hospital without making it feel like a laboratory or clinic,” said Linda Canina, academic director of the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University in New York.

The answer, thankfully, is not plastic-covered furniture or long-handled claws for grabbing your key card or breakfast sandwich. However, hotels have made significant changes from top to bottom in public and private spaces. For instance, they have erected plexiglass shields at front-desk counters, removed seating in lobbies and restaurants for social distancing purposes, and placed floor decals six feet apart. Guest rooms have been stripped of such extraneous materials as menus, magazines and extra bedding. Signs at elevator landings remind guests of the rider limit. Assuming most people don’t travel with a tape measure, Hotel Monteleone has adhered footprint stickers in each corner of its six lifts.

Hotels are also adjusting their guest services and reimagining their amenities. Hotel Drisco in San Francisco will keep its buffet but replace the communal serving dishes with individually plated and wrapped breakfast items – served on bone china, of course. At Hotel Figueroa in Los Angeles, text messaging with guests is the preferred form of communication. Four Sisters Inns, a collection of boutique properties in California, is requiring guests to reserve a breakfast time in its restaurants or order a complimentary breakfast in bed. (You will have to crawl out bed at least once, to collect the tray outside the door.) The evening happy hour with communal hors d’oeuvres is out, replaced by a picnic box filled with cheeses, fruit and crackers and a split of wine. The Sisters had to retire the cookie jar but not the cookies: The baked goods will arrive in individually sealed packaging. Hotels such as Nemacolin, Hotel Drisco and Hotel Monteleone are expanding their inventory of oft-forgotten items, adding masks and hand sanitizer to their supplies of toothbrushes and razors.

Upon arrival at Nemacolin, a bellhop offered to give me a lift from the self-parking lot to the hotel in a golf cart. “We disinfect them after each ride,” he added encouragingly. I accepted.

He dropped me off at the entrance to the Chateau LaFayette lobby, which was dripping in chandeliers and fresh flowers. Hand sanitizer dispensers stood out among the lavish furnishings. At the front desk, an employee greeted me from behind a plexiglass shield. I pressed my ID against the transparent square. He informed me of the house rules: I must wear a mask at all times outside of my room, and only four people are permitted inside the elevator at one time. He said the shuttle was not running and suggested I drive my own vehicle or walk. He asked if I wanted housekeeping to tidy up my room. I declined, preferring to restrict my social bubble to members-only.

To reach my room, I had to press an “up” elevator button protected by a plastic sheath. (The covering fell off and was not replaced during the remainder of my stay.) Inside, I switched on the TV to scan the listing of restaurants and activities, but the hotel channel was not working, so I had to make repeated calls and visits to the front desk. I eventually settled on an itinerary of mostly free diversions: miniature golf, bowling, pool, yoga ($20) and a wildlife talk starring a small collection from Nemacolin’s menagerie. Three restaurants were serving meals in lockdown fashion: Call, and they deliver anywhere on the property. I chose pizza from Barattolo by the Chateau’s purring fireplace.

I learned that some activities are built for social distancing. Hovering on the mini-golf course is bad form; the family behind me waited patiently while I putted around waterfalls and over trenches. At the bowling alley every other lane was open, and an employee wiped down each ball between players. Yoga is normally held in the spa, which was closed during my stay. Even better, the instructor gathered our trio in an open-air pavilion surrounded by rolling green hills and vocal birds.

“There is no cleaning [for you to do] after shavasana,” Susan said, referring to our final relaxing pose. “I will clean the mats.”

For the wildlife talk, the two experts separated the folding chairs and, as much as we pleaded with our eyes, did not allow us to cuddle Meatball Hoagie the guinea pig or Wendell the rabbit. Nor did they allow us to touch Loki, the sled dog who made a late afternoon appearance in the Chateau’s lobby. I air-pet him from a safe distance.

The pool drew the largest gatherings, though the ominous gray clouds and wind gusts kept most people on dry land. Staff members in plastic face shields reminiscent of a welder’s protective gear disinfected tables and delivered food in sealed containers. Signs at the towel station and pool bar reminded us to keep six feet apart.

The hotel was only 35% full, so crowding was not a big concern. However, many guests did not wear masks, a troubling predicament. I tried to keep my distance, which considering the spaciousness of the property was not too difficult. I raised the issue with the front desk as well with Baran once I was home. He said masks are required in indoor public spaces and that he would remind the staff to enforce this rule. (Housekeeping also cleaned my room even though I had declined its services; Baran said he would look into this oversight, as well.)

Despite the restrictions and occasional lapses, I could feel the tight knots loosening. It didn’t take much. A shaggy-haired musician performing under a cloud-speckled sky. A hole-in-one on the mini-golf course. An ankle dip in the hot tub. Two nights in a bed unaware of the previous months of fitful sleep.

On my last morning, I slid on my mask and headed down to the lobby. A bellhop was cleaning the revolving door. Without missing a beat, another staff member raced over to a side door and held it open for me.

The park, which features the popular Moomin characters from Finland, had been closed since March 31. It resumed operations with various preventive measures, such as restricting the number of daily visitors to a maximum of 3,000 and using thermography to check visitors’ temperatures when they enter.

The gates opened at 10 a.m. Thursday, and about 20 people wearing masks entered the park, applying disinfectant to their hands. They were greeted by a decorated area featuring about 2,000 opened umbrellas – parents and children walked beneath this roughly 300-meter-long “umbrella sky” that stretches to an adjacent open area.

“Our message is we will have a tourist season this summer,” European Union Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told the BBC last week, “even if it’s with security measures and limitations.”

Those E.U. measures include updating health protocols for hotels and public transit and expanding contact tracing between member states. The goal, according to a news release from the European Commission, is “to help the EU tourism sector recover from the pandemic, by supporting businesses and ensuring that Europe continues to be the number one destination for visitors.”

There are regulations, chief among them that non-European tourists will have to wait until at least June 15 to begin their visits. But much of the loosening of restrictions will be left up to individual nations – France and Ireland, for example, have agreed to allow travel among them without requiring a 14-day quarantine in the final destination.

Here’s what other countries on the continent, along with a few top non-European travel destinations, are planning.

– – –

Spain

In the Spanish beach town of Canet d’en Berenguer, outside Valencia, officials are accounting for social distancing with a system allowing beachgoers to book appointments on the sand via mobile app.

The beach will be divided into a grid of socially distanced sites, with staggered arrival times and the option to choose either a morning or afternoon slot (but not both). In all, the restrictions will allow for a maximum of 5,000 people per day, about half of the beach’s normal capacity.

“This summer will be very different,” Canet d’en Berenguer Mayor Pere Joan Antoni Chordá told CNN. “There’ll be more space between your neighbor. Like a ‘business-class’ beach.”

– – –

Iceland

When Iceland reopens its borders June 15, it will require all visitors to either take a covid-19 test, agree to a two-week quarantine or present official documentation of a recent negative test for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Regardless of which option they choose, tourists will have to download a contact-tracing app. Iceland has tested more than 13% of its population of about 360,000 people, a higher rate than any other country in the world.

“Iceland’s strategy of large-scale testing, tracing and isolating have proven effective so far,” tourism minister Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadottir said in a statement.

Iceland has reported 10 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began.

– – –

Greece

Greece will open to tourists a bit later, starting July 1, but the nation’s usual packed nightlife scene probably won’t be a part of it. Solo or socially distanced small-group activities, such as kayaking and boating, will be encouraged instead.

“The tourism experience this summer may be slightly different from what you’ve had in previous years,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told CNN. “Maybe no bars may be open, or no tight crowds, but you can still get a fantastic experience in Greece – provided that the global epidemic is on a downward path.”

Every international traveler to Greece will have to enter through Athens and submit to a health screening, which includes a rapid covid-19 test.

– – –

Mexico

Beaches across Mexico will open to tourists starting in June, with phases of reopening continuing through July and August. Los Cabos, the tip of the Baja California peninsula that includes popular spring break destination Cabo San Lucas, will allow for limited travel beginning June 1 as health screenings and enhanced sanitation measures ramp up to accommodate more tourists late into the summer.

The Los Cabos tourism board said it will look to open many of the area’s hotels and, eventually, the international terminal at its airport, if the new safety protocols reduce the spread of the virus. Cancun and Riviera Maya will also reopen in phases, though the U.S. State Department’s has a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for the area.

“For those looking further to international destinations, the overarching theme [in online searches] seems to be relaxation and beach time, with Mexico and the Caribbean dominating the list,” an Expedia spokeswoman told Travel + Leisure.

– – –

Australia and New Zealand

On the other side of the world, Australia and New Zealand are experimenting with the idea of a “travel bubble” that would allow tourists to travel freely between the countries, which have both had relatively few deaths. The bubble, however, would apply only to residents of the two countries,

“Our Number 1 focus at the moment is making sure that both our countries are in the position where we’re domestically managing covid-19 to a point where we can with confidence open borders,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a recent news conference.

Such changes would restore many of the freedoms that were in place before Italy became the epicenter for the virus’s spread in Europe. Italy is under intense economic pressure to reopen its doors and revive its tourism sector, which normally accounts for 13 percent of its GDP.

But the country is also gambling that it can contain any new outbreaks that might come with freer travel.

Since early March, the movement of Italians has been severely restricted, as part of one of the most rigid lockdowns in Europe. Under the current restrictions, people in the country are not allowed to leave their region, and leisure travelers are prohibited from coming to Italy. Anybody arriving in the country for urgent business reasons is required to self-isolate for 14 days.

In an evening address, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that people arriving from other E.U. states would not be subject to quarantine.

“This will create the conditions for tourism recovery,” he said.

The continent’s external borders are closed to nonessential travelers until at least mid-June – keeping Italy, initially, off the table as a travel option for Americans. Foreign minister Luigi Di Maio indicated that Italy’s eased restrictions would apply to those already in the European Union, writing on Facebook that from June 3 it will be possible “to move within E.U. states.”

Even by loosening the restrictions, Italy will have a hard time fully restoring its summer tourism season. Airlines have dramatically cut back on routes to the country, and many people who had planned trips to Italy have already canceled. Countries with more controlled outbreaks, like Greece and Portugal, are trying to pitch themselves as safe travel destinations for northern Europeans trying to escape to the beach.

Still, Italy is moving quickly to ease its restrictions in part because many of its regional governments, worried about the economic toll, have agitated for a more rapid timetable. On May 4, Italy took the first steps to emerge from lockdown, allowing factories and construction projects to resume. The government has since pushed up the opening date for restaurants – from early June to May 18. Retail stores and museums will also restart May 18.

“The epidemiological situation in Italy is holding,” said Fabrizio Pregliasco, a virologist at the University of Milan, who noted that the last two weeks haven’t shown any worrying upticks in the transmission of the virus. “With some caution, it is reasonable to imagine a reopening.”

The stringent lockdown Italy imposed for eight weeks succeeded in slowing the pace at which the virus was spreading. The country is discovering roughly 1,000 new coronavirus cases daily, compared with 6,000 at the peak in late March. Only 10 percent of the country’s intensive care beds are occupied by coronavirus patients, compared with more than 50 percent more than a month ago.

The country is sure to pay a severe economic price, because of restrictions necessitated by the virus and because it came to a standstill for so long. Italy’s economy is expected to contract this year by more than 9 percent, its deepest recession in history. Italy’s Confcommercio business association said that drop in consumption will mainly hit a few sectors – particularly, hotels and restaurants.

Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue’s president and chief operating officer, said in an interview with CNN Friday that while temperature checks might not be effective for asymptomatic people, they could still alert authorities to someone who should not be flying.

“Our perspective is there needs to be a global industry solution for this,” she said. “Different standards for different airlines is going to be challenging for the traveling public. If you show up in an airport and one airline does temperature checks one way and another does it another way, that’s just hard for consumers. Our recommendation is for the government to step in and handle that service.”

Her comments echoed those of Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly, who told CBS News this week that he was urging the Transportation Security Administration to start checking temperatures as part of a checkpoint screening process. Frontier Airlines, which became the first U.S. airline to announce its own temperature scans on Thursday, also urged government authorities to take over the job.

Geraghty said she expected to see more developments around health requirements and flying soon.

“I think a lot will be changing in the next few weeks around what the industry is going to do and, more importantly, what that nationwide standard should be and whether the government will be stepping in and setting some of those nationwide requirements,” she said.

A TSA statement late Thursday said the agency had not made any decisions about airport health screenings.

“Ongoing discussions with our [Department of Homeland Security] and interagency colleagues, as well as our airport and airline partners, will enable the agency to make informed decisions with regard to the health and safety of the aviation environment,” the statement said. “The safety and security of the traveling public and our employees will always be our top priority.”

The air routes will link Lhasa, capital of the autonomous region, and other cities in China including Kunming, Changsha and Shijiazhuang.

The company said it will offer a total of 66 air routes this summer.

More than 40 million tourists from home and abroad visited Tibet in 2019, up 19 percent year on year, according to local authorities.