UK to Ditch Return Quarantine Plans for British Holidaymakers and Tourists

The British Government has decided to ditch its own quarantine plans and to allow people from 75 countries to enter the UK without having to go in home isolation.

Quarantine

One of the countries with the most unusual corona virus (COVID-19) handling has always been the United Kingdom. Not only has the country one of the highest infection rates of the entire world, also its unusual lockdown policies raised eyebrows among Brits and foreigners alike.

At the moment that other European countries were one by one easing their lockdown and quarantine measures, the UK suddenly decided it was time to implement its own quarantine on arriving passengers after having gone for months without any such policies.

london uk quarantine
Foreign nationals as well as British holidaymakers can now travel from 75 countries to the UK without having to go in home isolation. ©Paliparan

Criticism

Although it is not the purpose of this website to delve into politics and to compare corona virus policies, it is however interesting to take a look at the effects the measure had on travel.

Not only did it kill off foreign travel towards the UK, it also caused massive headaches among British holidaymakers. UK citizens planning to go on holiday in Europe suddenly had to take into account the prospect of having to spend two weeks of home isolation upon return to the United Kingdom.

Needless to say, a lot of hard-working people could not afford to spend two weeks at home on top of their holiday, which resulted in a massive slump in holiday bookings.

Quarantine-free

Fortunately for those living in Britain, the Johnson government has now decided to shelve the quarantine plans as people coming from 75 different countries are now allowed again into the UK without needing to isolate themselves for 14 days at an UK address.

According to Reuters, it is also expected that the UK will lift a ban on non-essential travel to almost every European destination as well as the British territories including Bermuda and Gibraltar, Turkey, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.

Travel

Of course, British citizens might still find themselves unwelcome in some countries across Europe and the wider world as more than a few nations have blacklisted the UK because of the high COVID-19 infection rate.

One of these countries is for example Greece, which still does not accept people flying in from UK airports, either on direct or connecting flights. That said, there are loopholes which some notable people successfully managed to exploit.

hydra greece
Some countries such as Greece still ban British holidaymakers for the time being. ©Paliparan

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Koen

Koen works as a freelance journalist covering south-eastern Europe and is the founding father and editor-in-chief of Paliparan. As a contributor to some major Fleet Street newspapers and some lesser known publications in the Balkans, he travels thousands of miles each year for work as well as on his personal holidays. Whether it is horse riding in Kyrgyzstan’s Tian Shan mountains, exploring the backstreets of Bogotá, or sipping a glass of moschofilero in a Greek beachside taverna, Koen loves to immerse himself into the local culture, explore new places and eat and drink himself around the world. You can follow Koen on his travels on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

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