UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has today (Friday 7 May) announced that international travel can begin to safely reopen from 17 May, allowing people to go on foreign holidays to ‘Green List’ countries.
The ‘Stay in the UK’ regulation will lift on 17 May, meaning leisure travel from England will no longer be illegal. However, speaking at a No10 press conference this afternoon, the Transport Secretary outlined how strict border control measures will remain in place as international travel gradually resumes. Different levels of restriction will be applied to individuals returning to England from countries based on the traffic light system set out by the Global Travel Taskforce.
Portugal including the Azores and Madeira, Israel and Singapore have been added to the ‘Green List’, which comprises: Portugal including the Azores and Madeira, Australia; New Zealand; Singapore; Brunei: Iceland; Faroe Islands; Gibraltar; Falkland Islands; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; and Israel and Jerusalem. However, many ‘Green List’ countries will continue to place restrictions on UK travellers, including quarantine measures, so passengers are encouraged to check all requirements and FCDO travel advice before they book any foreign travel
Travellers to green list countries will still need to take a pre-departure test up to 72 hours before their return travel, and a single PCR test on or before day 2 of arrival into England.
“Our priority remains to protect public health, which is why the ‘green’ list is currently very small, with only 12 countries and territories. If the epidemiological situation improves worldwide, it is expected that there will be more opportunities for leisure travel with a greater number of destinations added,” said the UK Government.
In a bid to protect the country against new variants of coronavirus, from 0400 Wednesday 12 May, the Maldives, Nepal and Turkey will be added to the UK’s ‘red list’.
UK residents are prevented from travelling to ‘amber’ and ‘red’ countries for leisure. 10-day managed hotel quarantine requirements will remain in place for those permitted to return to England from ‘red’ countries, and quarantine at home alongside stringent testing will be required for those returning from ‘amber’ destinations.
The lists will be reviewed every three weeks, informed by public health advice, including the Joint Biosecurity Centre’s assessment of the latest data.
The UK Government will also be publishing a green watchlist in the future, to provide an indication when a country is identified as a candidate for a changing country. All measures will be kept under review and “further action may be taken to protect public health”.
Countries will decide whether they require proof of Covid vaccination for entry, and it is the traveller’s responsibility to check individual requirements. If needed, people in England who have both vaccine doses will be able to demonstrate their Covid vaccination status via the NHS app from 17 May.
“Today marks the first step in our cautious return to international travel, with measures designed above all else to protect public health and ensure we don’t throw away the hard-fought gains we’ve all strived to earn this year,” said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. “This is a new way of doing things, and people should expect travel to be different this summer – with longer checks at the borders, as part of tough measures to prevent new strains of the virus entering the country and putting our fantastic vaccine rollout at risk.”
The UK Government is also working to speed up border checks for international travellers entering the UK but warns that the checks will still take time and result in queues.
“Reopening international travel, while maintaining 100% health checks at the border, means longer waits are likely – passengers from any destination will still be required to fill out a Passenger Locator Form, and show proof of a pre-departure test negative result,” says the UK Government release. “While holidaymakers may notice longer than usual queues, it is vital we maintain our stringent border checks – which are among the toughest in the world – to prevent new strains of the virus entering the country and putting our vaccine roll out at risk.”
The government has urged airlines to “carry out all necessary checks or risk facing fines of £2,000 for each passenger they carry who does not have a valid Pre-Departure Test Certificate, and £2,000 for each passenger who does not have a completed PLF”.
The Government adds that it is continuing with plans to “integrate health measure checks into our border system and enabling checks to take place at e-gates in major ports during Summer 2021”.
Commenting on the UK Government’s Travel ‘Green List’ announced today, Elise Weber, Co-Founder of Skytra, said: “While any initiative that gives the green light to travellers flying again is very welcome, the very nature of a traffic light system is that it’s changeable: countries could be back on the amber or red list within a month, meaning passengers will undoubtedly end up booking and cancelling at the last minute. Throughout the COVID period airlines have had to deal with an enormous number of vouchers, exchanges and refunds. Our data indicates that up to 30% of tickets issued by airlines have not been reported yet, which could indicate a significant number of vouchers and refunds still pending. Financial liabilities towards customers can only decrease if airlines can properly plan and execute their schedules. A good example is the North-American market where traffic is building back strongly compared to Europe. Clearly, we need some sort of system to get travel going again while the vaccine roll-out continues, but until we have worldwide alignment on international travel this volatility will continue for at least two to three years. In the meantime, the industry has to take advantage of the support and tools on offer to manage this, improve predictability and make smarter decisions.”