UK Says it Will Ease Covid Measures Opening Door for Travel to Greece
British travelers will be able to visit Greece without facing 10-day quarantine on return after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that he would be easing measures at home.
According to Britain’s latest plan, final details of which are expected to be announced on July 12, restriction-free travel abroad will be allowed as of July 19.
The goal for Greek tourism is to now cover losses suffered after the UK kept Greece on its no-go amber list advising against travel and requiring quarantine on return.
Indicative of the losses, earlier this week, travel giant TUI said that it would be canceling dozens of holidays to Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Turkey through to July 21 citing “ongoing uncertainty around travel” as the reason behind the decision.
Greece’s inclusion on the UK’s amber list has impacted projections for 9 billion euros in travel receipts this year – a target of 50 percent of pre-Covid-19 2019 revenues.
Greek market insiders view Monday’s decision as a “breath of air” particular in view of the fact that Britain has traditionally been a primary source market for Greece.
The country’s second largest market, a total of 3.5 million travelers from the UK generated 2.5 billion euros in 2019.
Speaking to the British press on Monday evening, Johnson said he would be ending Covid restrictions by the end of July, despite a surge in new Delta variant cases.
The British PM cited the success of the country’s vaccination rollout for his decision. The announced plan includes doing away with face masks, social distancing rules, re-opening of entertainment venues and return to work. The country’s opposition said the move was dangerous and premature.
Britain’s announcement comes a few days after a meeting between Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel who changed stance saying that Britons who have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine would be able to travel to to Germany. Last month, she had suggested banning UK travelers entering the EU due to the spread of Delta.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, Morgan Stanley said the spread of the Delta variant may likely create divergences in the economic recovery rate of EU countries mainly those in the North which are highly dependent on tourism. The financial services company said to a great extent recovery now hinges on the success of the EU’s Covid certificate and the whether the Delta variant will create a rift among the bloc’s members.
Please tell why it is necessary to have an NHS stamp on your vaccination certificate to get into th UK without having to quarantine. We both have double Pfizer vaccinations administered in Greece and a European Green Passport to prove it, but we still have to quarantine on arrival to the UK, plus we have UK Passports, why? Just because we reside in Greece? Which, by the way, has far fewer COVID cases per day than the UK.