Travel Update – quarantine, air bridges and the return of summer holidays

Published – 03/07/2020

The government has confirmed it will relax quarantine measures on July 10 and remove its blanket advice against all non-essential travel from this Saturday.

Passengers returning to or visiting England from destinations with a ‘reduced risk’ of bringing Covid-19 to the UK will no longer need to self-isolate for 14 days.

The Department for Transport has announced the countries included on its list of ‘safe’ destinations for UK citizens to travel to.

It follows an announcement this morning that 14-day quarantine rules on arrivals in England will be relaxed from July 10 – and blanket Foreign Office advice against all non-essential travel will be dropped from tomorrow (Saturday, July 4).

Countries were due to be ranked as either green, amber or red based on a ‘traffic light’ system highlighting their Covid-19 risk, but the initial list did not make those differentiations.

The government’s full list of ‘safe’ quarantine-free destinations includes:

Andorra
Antigua and Barbuda
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Barbados
Belgium
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
Croatia
Curaçao
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominica
Faroe Islands
Fiji
Finland
France
French Polynesia
Germany
Greece
Greenland
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau
Malta
Mauritius
Monaco
Netherlands
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Réunion
San Marino
Serbia
Seychelles
South Korea
Spain
St Barthélemy
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Pierre and Miquelon
Switzerland
Taiwan
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
Vatican City
Vietnam

Travel in this new environment is likely to be different, and ABTA, whom we are members of, has a new customer-focused web page titled ‘Restarting travel – a guide for customers’ at abta.com/restartingtravel, which is designed to take travellers through extra steps to consider.

Here’s ABTA’s checklist for customers looking to book their longed-for break in the sun:

ABTA’s Holiday Checklist

• When planning your trip check the latest FCO travel advice for the destination you are planning to travel to so you can make an informed choice before you book your holiday and visit the FCO’s Travel Aware page which has guidance on staying safe abroad.
• Sign up to FCO travel advice alerts – you can do this by searching for a country or territory and signing up for email updates on its page. This will mean you receive helpful updates such as entry requirements and health and safety measures.
• Seek help from an ABTA travel professional who can give you advice on where to travel, source the best deals for you and provide you with the protections offered by a package holiday.
• Take out insurance as soon as you have booked your holiday and make sure it covers you for all the activities you want to do. Carry the policy number and insurance phone number on you and leave a copy of the policy with a family member or friend.