Portugal has been removed from the UK’s red list countries, paving the way for Brits to return to the hotspot for summer holidays. This will include Madeira and Azores. Mauritius has also been removed from the travel ban list.
This means that flights between the England and these destinations will no longer be suspended, and that anyone returning to England won’t need to stay in a quarantine hotels for their self-isolation (and fork out the £1,750 cost). Ongoing border rules such as self-isolating at home for 10 days and show proof of a negative Covid test taken before travel will still apply.
The Department of Transport said that Portugal has put steps in place to mitigate the risk from its links with countries where variants have become a concern, and now has genomic surveillance in place.
However, a number of countries have now been added to the list - Ethiopia, Oman, Somalia and Qatar. Any non-Brits returning to England after 4am on March 19 will be denied entry, while British nationals and UK residents will be required to stay in a UK quarantine hotel.
Currently, Portugal’s borders are only open to Brits travelling for essential purposes - but the country’s tourism minister Rita Marques revealed this week that the hotspot is hoping to welcome Brits back from May, whether they have been vaccinated or can show proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken before travel.
In recent weeks a number of countries have already begun to prepare to welcome back tourists.
Cyprus, Greece and Turkey are some of the destinations who have said they will welcome back UK travellers from May for holidays.
While Cyprus is reopening to vaccinated travellers, Greece and Turkey have both said that those without a Covid jab will still be granted entry although they will need to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test result taken before travel.
Meanwhile, France reopened its borders to UK travellers just last week (although some restrictions such as quarantine still apply), while Spain holidays could be back on the cards as the country looks to test a Covid vaccine passport scheme in May.
Currently it’s still illegal for Brits to travel abroad for a holiday as part of national lockdowns in the UK. However there are hopes that under the England lockdown roadmap, foreign travel could resume from May 17 at the earliest (subject to a review by the government’s Global Travel Taskforce in April).
There are still 35 countries on the red list - you can see the full list here. This means that any non-Brits who have travelled in one of them within 10 days of arriving to England will be denied entry. Brits and UK residents will be required to stay in a UK quarantine hotel for at least 11 days.
Portugal was the only European destination to feature on the red list, due to its close ties with Brazil and South America.
Will you go abroad if restrictions lift this summer? Let us know in the comments below.
