London — The UK will allow fully vaccinated visitors from the European Union and the United States to arrive without quarantine starting next week, the Minister of Transport said Wednesday, for airlines and travel agencies. With a huge and long-awaited boost.
The UK travel industry has strongly criticized the government for being too late to open, saying it wasted initiative in deploying global vaccines and made a good start in attracting tourists to the EU. increase.
The government said in a statement that travelers with US and EU approved vaccines from August 2 do not need to be quarantined. It covers the UK’s top nine largest markets in pre-pandemic visitor numbers.
The opening of England will probably follow the rest of Britain.
However, travelers must undergo a COVID-19 test before departure, and shortly after arriving in the UK, Transport Minister Grant Shapps wrote on Twitter.
This move will help airlines and travel agencies grow more business after the 16-month limit puts many airlines under serious financial burden.
British Airways’ share rose 3%, easyJet rose 4% and Wizz Air rose 5%.
Quarantine for fully vaccinated British returning from a medium-risk country to the UK was abolished on 19 July, helping to begin the recovery of travel, but frequent rule changes over the past two months have been It means that the trip is still plagued by uncertainty.
In addition, the United States remains closed to British visitors, so for transatlantic airlines such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, planes will primarily carry US citizens to the United Kingdom.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on LBC radio earlier Wednesday that US citizens wanted to come to Britain “freely” and were discussing a travel corridor with the United States.
Sarah Young and Elizabeth Piper