Nicola Sturgeon said the Scottish Government is “considering” adopting the same measures made by the UK Government for England regarding travel.
UK transport secretary Grant Shapps said today that, from July 19, UK residents who are fully vaccinated will not have to self-isolate when they return to England from countries on the “amber” list.
The First Minister was asked at her coronavirus briefing this afternoon about what Scotland’s easing of travel restrictions could look like.
Ms Sturgeon said that she would ‘carefully consider’ Scotland adopting a similar approach that would see holidaymakers able to return with no quarantine from around 140 amber list countries.
She said: “We are considering that carefully. We will look carefully at the statement that’s been made in the UK, and we’ll come to a decision on that fairly soon in terms whether or not that will apply to people returning to Scotland.”
But she added that she is “not ruling anything out” as Scotland is at a very “fragile” point in the pandemic.
Nicola Sturgeon said that she will set out any changes next Tuesday, when she will confirm if Scotland is go ahead with the July 19 ‘Freedom Day’ which would see the country move to level 0.
Merilee Karr, Chair of the UK Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA) and CEO of UnderTheDoormat commented, “We are pleased that the Transport Secretary has announced a more pragmatic approach for those double-vaccinated UK holidaymakers and business travellers returning from Amber-listed countries.
“ It is very important that the Government prioritises getting the UK economy back on its feet, especially the tourism and hospitality sectors, who have suffered terribly since the start of the pandemic, losing many months of bookings with no way of recovering them.
"We would like to see conversations happening now with the Government about how we fully open up the country to double vaccinated travellers from Green and Amber countries and encourage more international visitors to come to the UK this summer.
"The short-term accommodation sector is well placed to cater for visitors who meet the specified criteria as they offer self-contained accommodation enabling safe social distancing, strong industry-wide cleaning standards and availability in key city destinations such as London, Bath, Manchester and Edinburgh.”
