United Kingdom likely to reopen tourism for fully vaccinated travellers

Monday, June 21, 2021

The British government officials are considering plans to open up international travel for fully vaccinated passengers, enabling tourism to resume to more than 150 countries and territories including the vital United States market and some of the most popular destinations in Europe.

Under the policy, which is still being discussed inside government, people who have received both doses of Covid-19 vaccines would not need to quarantine on returning from medium-risk countries on the so-called amber list.

That would provide a major boost to airlines and tourism businesses who have been hammered since the start of the pandemic forced governments to shut down international travel. Airline shares surged on the possible adjustment.

Under current rules, destinations are coded red for the highest coronavirus infection risk, amber for medium risk and green for the lowest risk. Fully vaccinated travellers are advised against going to amber or red list countries.  The people who arrive in England from destinations on the amber list must quarantine at home or in the place where they are staying for 10 days, and take at least two Covid-19 tests during the period.

The airline carriers have criticised the policy, especially after Portugal was abruptly taken off the green list earlier this month, dealing a blow to the all-important summer travel season.

On Thursday, Ryanair Holdings Plc and the owner of Manchester and London Stansted airports plan to challenge the rules in court. They say a lack of transparency on how risk levels are assessed is undermining consumer confidence and hindering a travel-industry recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

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