Foreign countries which have ruled out travel post-mid May

epm-84

While the UK government are set to allow non-essential travel to some countries post-mid May, it's worth remembering some countries have already indicated they won't be accepting UK holiday makers until a later date even if they are given a green light status by the UK government.

For instance, Luxembourg has said no British holiday makers before 30th June: https://covid19.public.lu/en/travellers/visiting-luxembourg.html

Westin

Luxembourg.  Not a great loss.

Voyager2002

epm-84 said:

For instance, Luxembourg has said no British holiday makers before 30th June: https://covid19.public.lu/en/travellers/visiting-luxembourg.html

Greece seems to be similar ATM

Butts

Westin said:

Luxembourg.  Not a great loss.

Nice place and worth noting when it reopens Free Public Transport across The Grand Duchy.
Cigarettes dirt cheap as well (about the only thing that is).
I'm sure Portugal, Gibraltar, Channel Islands (opening April 26th) and many other places will be available.

epm-84

Westin said:

Luxembourg.  Not a great loss.

Current EU policy is member states do not have to allow entry to nationals from 'third countries.'  The UK has been a 'third country' since 1st January 2021 so countries in the EU can refuse to allow UK nationals to enter, even if our vaccination rates or COVID infection rates are better than those of EU countries.  Luxembourg won't be the only example, they've just clearly defined their policy before the British government has confirmed any possible easing of restrictions.

epm-84

Voyager2002 said:

epm-84 said:

For instance, Luxembourg has said no British holiday makers before 30th June: https://covid19.public.lu/en/travellers/visiting-luxembourg.html

Greece seems to be similar ATM

Greece managed to keep infection rates low for most of last year and was available as an option for most British holidaymakers for around 5 months.  However, this year it's looking like the list of available countries will be very different with Greece unlikely to be available from May but Portugal looking like a possibly, despite only being available to British holidaymakers for a few weeks of last year.

Thrugelmir

epm-84 said:

Voyager2002 said:

epm-84 said:

For instance, Luxembourg has said no British holiday makers before 30th June: https://covid19.public.lu/en/travellers/visiting-luxembourg.html

Greece seems to be similar ATM

Greece managed to keep infection rates low for most of last year and was available as an option for British holidaymakers for around 5 months. 

Didn't stop a high level of reimported cases. Not the country that's the greatest concern it's those that travel. 

epm-84

Thrugelmir I think you're referring to 2 plane loads of passengers which arrived back in the UK from Greece last year that included a passenger who later tested positive for COVID, one being to Scotland which led to Nicola Sturgeon banning travel to Greece.  She was very quiet about the many Scottish residents who got tested on arrival in Greece and were found to be positive, which in one case led to someone dying of COVID.  You could argue Sturgeon banning travel to Greece did more to prevent COVID being exported from Scotland to Greece than imported to Scotland from Greece and that keeping pubs closed in Scotland would have done a lot more to prevent the COVID spread.

CKhalvashi

Thrugelmir said:

epm-84 said:

Voyager2002 said:

epm-84 said:

For instance, Luxembourg has said no British holiday makers before 30th June: https://covid19.public.lu/en/travellers/visiting-luxembourg.html

Greece seems to be similar ATM

Greece managed to keep infection rates low for most of last year and was available as an option for British holidaymakers for around 5 months. 

Didn't stop a high level of reimported cases. Not the country that's the greatest concern it's those that travel. 

More so what those who are travelling are doing.

I did travel last summer, but stayed largely between the hotel and beach, with the exception of a few day trips done by private car. That's far lower risk than someone going to nightclubs etc, but not to say I couldn't catch anything.

I voluntarily tested before returning to the UK and properly self-isolated when required to do so, but there are allegations that many have not, which again has caused some cases going undetected through import.

Thrugelmir

epm-84 said:

Thrugelmir I think you're referring to 2 plane loads of passengers which arrived back in the UK from Greece last year that included a passenger who later tested positive for COVID, 

Unfortunately not.  To suggest that was the entire extent of imported cases would be negligent. 

epm-84

@Thugelmir Yes there was probably some asymptomatic transmission but you said there was a high level of reimported cases from Greece.  Where's your evidence for that?  One of the reasons foreign holidays were allowed again last year was because the government had no scientific evidence that going on holiday to a country with an infection rate of something like 12 in 100,000 was worse than a staycation in an area with a much higher infection rate or even just staying local to your home address.  Even for those two reported flights from Greece it could have been that someone had the virus prior to travelling up but only started showing symptoms after 7-14 days from getting the virus or that Brits were passing the virus between each other, when they could have ended up doing that if they'd stayed at home.

I live in the North West so Manchester Airport is covered by my local news and the only reported instance I can recall of COVID being linked to a flight arriving in to Manchester was one from Spain when Spain was already on the quarantine list due to high infection rates.  I don't know how many reported instances of COVID being linked to pubs, restaurants, schools etc. as there were a number in my immediate local area, so region wide it must have been thousands.