Hopes for hassle-free summer holidays have been dealt another blow, after Greece tightened the rules on its party islands and Italy extended restrictions on UK travellers.
Extra police have been deployed to popular Greek islands including Mykonos, over fears that tourist venues aren’t complying with Covid measures. A reported 186 officers have been sent to the island, almost four times the usual number stationed there.
The Greek deputy civil protection minister Nikos Hardalias said Mykonos, along with the island of Ios, was “one step” away from authorities imposing further restrictions, and signalled concern over rising Covid rates in Zakynthos, Tinos, Lefkada, Santorini, Paros and Rhodes.
Meanwhile, Italy has extended its quarantine rule for British tourists for another month, even after the UK government’s decision to drop entry restrictions for fully vaccinated arrivals from the EU and the US.
Anyone entering Italy from Britain will have to show a negative Covid test result, self-isolate for five days, and take another swab test at the end of the isolation period, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said in a decree that prolonged until August 30 measures that were due to expire on Friday.
Scroll down for updates.
Cyprus to vaccinate 12-15-year-olds against Covid
Cyprus announced that children aged 12 to 15 would be included in a mass vaccination programme to curb the spread of Covid-19, as it tightened restrictions for access to public spaces.
“The only way we can stop the emergence of new aggressive strains (of coronavirus) is vaccination,” Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas said in a statement.
Children will be eligible for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, though only with parental consent. The measure will come into effect on August 2.
Comment: Unlike last year, the holiday misery is now out of our hands
The UK’s border policies are stabilising – but the chaos has just moved elsewhere, warns Greg Dickinson.
For the first time in a while, the Government has presented us with a fairly extensive menu of countries we can visit. This doesn’t mean our holidays will be plain sailing this summer, of course. The main difference is that any holiday chaos or misery is increasingly down to the whims of your destination.
Today, Italy announced it will be extending its travel restrictions on British arrivals. Until August 30, anyone arriving in Italy will be subject to a mandatory five-day quarantine, with a test before arrival and a test at the end of the quarantine period.
This is a one-way situation, as double-jabbed Britons returning from Italy can do so without quarantine, and Italians will soon be able to do the same, from August 2. It is also a situation that does not appear to be down to rates of Covid-19. Italy’s doors are open to all corners of the EU, so long as those arrivals present an EU Covid Digital Passport.
Lunchtime read: ‘Race against lockdown – a tale of escape and close calls in Australia’
It reads like the blurb of a far-fetched sci-fi movie. As the delta variant swept across Australia, one Kiwi traveller travelled from place to place to avoid getting caught up in the state lockdowns.
Anna Cullins escaped them by the skin of her teeth, joining a fleet of “grey nomads and hippy travellers” who fled the southern states in camper vans that have since packed out caravan parks across northern Australia.
An educational facilitator, Cullins has worked with health and education initiatives in Africa and South Asia. Before the delta variant arrived in Australia, she planned to find teaching work in a remote indigenous community in the far north of Australia, but interstate border closures complicated that ambition.
Spotlight on France: Will the country be promoted from the ‘amber plus’ list?
Covid cases in France are up 45.34 per cent in a week, with the seven-day rate standing at 224.01 per 100k. This remains lower than the UK’s current seven-day rate of 305.11 per 100k.
However, the decision to upgrade France to the amber list will likely rest on the levels of the beta variant recorded in the country. This is the key metric Government advisers will be looking at ahead of the traffic light update next week.
Germany tightens entry restrictions on land passengers
From August 1, all travellers arriving in Germany must take a Covid test unless they provide proof of vaccination or recent recovery from the virus.
This is a tightening of the current rules, which require any unvaccinated person arriving in the country by plane to take a test, but not those entering by land, unless they are travelling from a high risk area.
Health minister Jens Spahn said:“All unvaccinated people entering Germany will have to be tested in future – regardless of whether they come by plane, car or train.”
The new rules, due to be signed off by the cabinet today, will apply to all arrivals over 12 years old. Only cross-border commuters and those transiting through the country will be exempt, reports AFP.
States of emergency proposed for Japan
Japan’s government today proposed states of emergency until August 31 in three prefectures near Olympic host Tokyo and the western prefecture of Osaka, as Covid cases spike to records, overshadowing the Games.
Existing states of emergency for Tokyo – its fourth since the pandemic began – and southern Okinawa island should also be extended to August 31, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is spearheading Japan’s pandemic response, told a panel of experts in announcing the proposed expansion.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to formally announce the move later today after the experts approved it.
Japan has avoided a devastating outbreak, but is now struggling to contain the highly transmissible delta variant, with daily cases nationwide topping 10,000 for the first time on Thursday, media reported.
UK travellers are not currently permitted entry to Japan.
Turkey’s coastal resorts under threat as wildfires rage
Popular coastal resorts in Turkey are under threat as wildfires continue to sweep the south of the country.
Videos shared online showed fires burning near the resort city of Marmaris, which is popular with British holidaymakers. There have been reports of hotels in the region being evacuated.
A heat wave is scorching southeast Europe, with temperatures rising above 40C in parts of Greece and across much of the region.
Weather experts in Athens said they expected the heat wave to extend into next week, making it one of the most severe recorded in the country since the mid-1980s.
Turkey is currently on the UK’s red list, though recent data from analytics firm Cirium suggested that flights were operating at 65 per cent of 2019 levels.
Air France-KLM six-month losses close to €3 billion
The aviation giant posted a €1.5 billion loss in the three months to June, taking its total losses for the first half of 2021 to almost €3 billion.
Despite the staggering figures, the group said there were positive signs of recovery ahead and is expecting to operate at around 60 to 70 per cent of its 2019 flight levels between July and September.
Chief executive Ben Smith said: “The second quarter of 2021 saw the first signs of the long-awaited recovery. Travellers were able to take the skies again.
“Reciprocity of borders reopening and acceleration of the vaccination roll-out worldwide will play a key role in maintaining this momentum.”
Can I cancel my holiday to Italy?
It depends on your booking. Generally, disinclination to travel is not a good enough excuse and seeing as Italy is allowing entry to Britons, trips may not be cancelled.
However, most airlines and tour operators are generous with their flexibility options at the moment, meaning you will most likely have the chance to rebook, at least.
Tui’s website suggests it is still running trips to Italy for August but its quarantine promise means it will not run trips to anywhere that requires arrivals to self-isolate. It is likely to offer a refund or chance to rebook.
Contact your airline, tour operator and insurer to see what your options are.
Here’s everything you need to know about travel to Italy this summer.
Canary Islands Covid passport plan for hospitality halted by judges
The Canary Islands’ Covid passport plan for hospitality has been halted by judges, who say “restaurateurs are not public health controllers”, writes James Badcock.
The proposals to introduce a requirement for a Covid certificate to enter bars and restaurants has been struck down by the archipelago’s top court after an appeal by the hospitality sector.
The court said that the law makes bar owners and restaurateurs “public health controllers, obliged to invade the legal area of the right to privacy.”
A full consideration and ruling will come in next few days, but for now it appears to have been provisionally shelved.
‘How I organised a multi-generational holiday for 10 people to Mallorca’
After completing Operation Balearics, the BBC’s Home Editor Mark Easton and his family group were able to enjoy a proper summer holiday.
The mission was ambitious: to transport myself, my wife, our four children, three partners and a baby, to a villa in Mallorca, without breaking rules, ignoring guidance or needing to quarantine. The missing partner, a captain in the British army, had been due to come until duties in Iraq intervened. We could have done with his logistical expertise. The success of Operation Balearics depended upon completing a bureaucratic assault course.
I can best describe the exercise as a cross between a fiendish sudoku and a cryptic crossword. One wrong number, one letter out of place, and the entire venture would fail. Apps needed downloading, vaccine certificates needed uploading, negative PCR tests needed registering, QR codes needed generating, a matrix of data for each member of the party had to be assembled and inserted. Even baby Ben, not yet old enough to know a world without social distancing, required two Spanish residency forms for our week in Palma. To add to the jeopardy, everything had to be completed and verified within a fixed time window ahead of departure.
There was, I must admit, a pang of pride as all 10 of us successfully crossed the Spanish border to the happy sound of a Mallorcan stamp being banged into our passports. A young family ahead of us were not so fortunate, escorted to the back of the terminal after an error was spotted in their homework.
‘Fridge-stocking and meal deliveries’ – The travel industry reacts to Italy’s quarantine extension
Travel industry insiders have been reacting to the news that Italy has extended its five-day quarantine requirement for British holidaymakers. And it looks like some travellers will be forging ahead with their holidays, arranging shopping deliveries so they are able to self-isolate.
Ravi Sabharwal, founder of Oliver’s Travels, said:
This morning’s news is a disappointing blow considering customer confidence in this territory had just started to grow and as a result, our bookings to Italy in the past week have been strong – up 19 per cent week on week.
We have 139 passengers due to travel this weekend. However, due to the nature of our villas with private pools and large grounds we expect many will still travel and with extra services such as fridge-stocking, meal delivery services able to be arranged through our concierge service and on the ground villa managers. We have already had clients contacting us this morning to arrange this.
We expect the news will take a hit on forthcoming Italian bookings, we’ve already seen a 45 per cent decrease in Portugal bookings week on the week following the quarantine news there. However, British travellers are resilient and we predict our bookers will now focus on France and staycations.
A spokesperson for Simpson Travel:
At Simpson Travel, we have become used to adapting to changing travel advice so while it is hugely disappointing, our priority is to ensure clients are happy. We have already begun the process of contacting those affected and some are determined to go ahead and enjoy their long-awaited holiday as planned.
We will offer overseas support to enable these clients to adhere to the five-day quarantine in the comfort of their villa, including a shopping service for groceries, drinks and other essential items. For those who would prefer not to travel, we are offering deferrals, refunds or a switch to an alternative destination.
BA ramps up flights, after reopening announcement
British Airways parent company IAG is planning on dramatically increasing its flight schedules, in the wake of Britain’s easing of restrictions for US and EU travellers.
The company, which also owns Iberia and Aer Lingus, will operate at around 45 per cent of its pre-pandemic flight levels between July and September, up 21.3 per cent on the previous three months. It is hoping to increase this figure to 75 per cent by the end of the year.
IAG Chief executive Luis Gallego said British Airways saw a 95 per cent increase in the number of bookings for flights from the US to the UK, after Wednesday’s announcement easing restrictions.
The red list countries that could move to amber in time for summer holidays
There is plenty of discussion about next week’s traffic light update, with many hoping France will be promoted from the ‘amber plus’ list.
All eyes are also on certain ‘red listed’ countries which could be in the running for an ‘amber promotion’ in time for the summer holiday rush, judging by the latest data, meaning an end to the expensive mandatory hotel quarantine that passengers returning from the 60 red-listed countries face.
Maldives
7-day case rate: 140.85
Second dose:61.52%
Letting Britons in? Yes, with pre-departure tests 96 hours prior to arrival. More information here.
It is not the Maldives’ vaccination rate holding it back from amber promotion. Some 61.52% of the population has received a second dose of the vaccine, and 75.59% have had a first jab. It is its case rate that keeps it on the red list. The tropical island idyll reported 762 new cases of Covid-19 in the last seven days, which equates to 140 cases per 100,000 over seven days. With a small population, however, that case rate can grow and shrink fast (it is down 17.8% week on week), so it is not impossible that the Maldives could go amber before the end of the summer.
France to remain on ‘amber plus’ list until at least next week
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said a decision on France’s place in the international travel traffic-light system is not expected until next week.
France is currently on the ‘amber plus’ list, with even fully vaccinated holidaymakers returning from the country being required to self-isolate for up to 10 days.
Mr Shapps said a decision on its status will be taken “by this time next week” as part of the regular travel list update every three weeks.
Asked if the decision could be taken before then, the minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “No, it’s only six days away actually, so I wouldn’t expect anything in advance of that, but it is the moment at which this will be looked at.”
Comment: ‘The cautious forays of these pandemic times may prove to be the best trips you have ever had’
As a new parent during Covid, going to a nearby town felt like visiting Thailand and a commute was like crossing the Atlantic, writes Hugh Morris.
Last week I ventured out twice. First, to the nearby market town of St Ives for my wife’s birthday. We had lunch in a restaurant on the banks of the Great Ouse, with a view of the town’s 15th-century bridge. It is beautiful, no doubt, but starved as I am of travel I looked upon it as if it were the Ponte Vecchio. I was momentarily transported to the buzz and hum of Florence in a hot summer.
Next day I went into the office and enjoyed my commute as if it were the Trans-Siberian Express; a journey typically of little note suddenly felt other-worldly. When the train entered north London, I gazed upon Alexandra Palace with wonder. It is remarkable, but years ago I used to do cycling laps on its hills and barely glanced at it. Context is all – and this is what travel has become through the lens of the pandemic.
Italy quarantine reaction: ‘I’ve had to cancel my 40th birthday celebration’
Holidaymakers have been left reeling from the news that Italy won’t waive its quarantine requirements for UK travellers until at least August 30. Many are now having to decide whether to put off trips or submit to five days isolation and multiple tests.
Julia Perowne, founder and CEO of travel PR firm Perowne International, is one of many forced to cancel their upcoming holidays. She says:
I booked a holiday to Italy in July. We were forced to postpone it due to travel restrictions on both sides until August. The latest news is just another confusing wave of restrictions that make it simply impossible for us to travel. I have just had a baby, we are only going for three days for my 40th birthday to my favourite hotel on the Amalfi Coast, Monastero Santa Rosa, and we have childcare arranged.
It’s maddening and upsetting. Governments aren’t talking and advice constantly contradicts both science and reason. My partner and I are both double jabbed. If we were staying in a villa or for longer, of course we would have continued with the trip and quarantined for the mandatory five days but unfortunately due to our circumstances, we have had to cancel.
Are you having to cancel a holiday to Italy? Let us know in the comments below.
Eurostar chief demands airline tax to help save rail link to France
The boss of Eurostar is calling for an airline tax to subsidise rail services to the Continent in a move that would help Boris Johnson meet his climate change commitments.
Jacques Damas urged the Prime Minister to encourage more Britons to use Eurostar instead of flying to northern Europe.
“If the UK Government wants to commit to its objective for carbon emissions reduction … then they have to activate the right levers,” he said. “This high speed [railway] in the world has a lot of remaining capacity.”
The French President, Emmanuel Macron, is cracking down on domestic flights with a ban on services that can be travelled by direct train in less than two-and-a-half hours.
Mr Damas added: “If you do not want to ban, but give an incentive, it is very easy. If you just work with the taxation system. If you take just £1. Take £1 more in taxing fuel for aircraft, and take that £1 as a reduction in access charges on the railway.”
Grant Shapps defends France’s ‘amber plus’ rating
Asked why France remains on the ‘amber plus’ list, the Transport Secretary said advisers were “sufficiently concerned about the Beta variant in France.”
This is despite Dominic Raab yesterday implying that France’s inclusion on the list was due to cases on the island of Reunion, thousands of miles away from the mainland.
Mr Shapps told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It was actually the cases the [JCB] were picking from France – there has been some discussion about whether those cases where from Reunion, they may have started there but they were measured in France.”
Asked if beta variant cases are high in France, he said: “It looks like it has been trending downwards… the Joint Biosecurity Centre will be looking at France and providing fresh advice on where that should sit in the system.”
Grant Shapps: No change to US travel ban, despite UK reopening
The US has still not signalled any change to the travel ban on visitors from the UK, Grant Shapps has said.
The UK lifted its travel ban for US visitors, along with those from the EU, as long as they have proof that they are fully vaccinated with an FDA or EMA-approved jab.
“The US have an executive order, which… bans visitors from the UK and several other countries,” the Transport Secretary told Radio 4’s Today programme. “I should add, it didn’t help the US in their battle with coronavirus – they have had a pretty torrid time.
“It is the case they are yet to release that executive order,” he added. “We look forward to hearing news once they have.”
In detail: Italy extends quarantine for UK travellers
The disappointing news that UK travellers to Italy will continue to have to quarantine, has dimmed hopes of holidays to one of the Britain’s favourite destinations.
Here are the key points you need to know about travel to Italy this summer
- Anyone entering Italy from the UK will still need to show a negative Covid test, self-isolate for five days, and then take another test until August 30.
- However, Italy will recognise UK vaccination certificates locally, making it easier for any Briton who completes quarantine to then comply with Covid passport regulations, which will from Aug 6 apply to indoor bars, restaurants, museums, cinemas and other venues.
- The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the whole of Italy based on the current assessment of Covid-19 risks, meaning travel insurance can be hard to secure.
UK Marriott hotels see 80 per cent rise in interest from American travellers, following reopening announcement
The news that Britain is reopening to fully vaccinated travellers from America and the EU from August 2 is the small step back to normality that the travel industry so desperately needed. And already hotels and airlines are reporting increases in interest and bookings from international travellers.
Neal Jones, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, EMEA, Marriott International:
“Following the excellent news that fully vaccinated US citizens can now travel to the UK without having to quarantine, we’re optimistic that we’ll see an increase in US bookings to the UK this summer.
“Immediately following the UK Government’s announcement, we saw an 80 per cent increase in traffic to our website from Americans searching for UK hotels. It’s abundantly clear that after over a year of restrictions, people are itching to travel again.
“We have already seen some encouraging trends from mainland Europe over recent weeks, and booking activity into Europe has improved by 40pts since early May as restrictions and quarantine requirements have loosened, especially in leisure-driven destinations like Greece, Spain, and Italy. We are seeing that our members and guests from the US are eager to come back to immerse themselves in the incredible culture and beauty of our key destinations once again.
Spotlight on Greece, as restrictions tighten on party islands
Covid cases are on the rise again in Greece. The seven-day average of new infections at the start of July was 468. This figure has now risen to 2,667. However, rates still remain lower than much of Europe.
French vent fury at ‘excessive and discriminatory’ UK quarantine rules
France has slammed Britain’s decision to single it out as the only European country for which 10-day quarantine will be required for fully vaccinated travellers, branding the move as “excessive”, “discriminatory” and “scientifically unfounded”.
The decision, which the UK Government has blamed on the supposed prevalence of the beta variant in France, has infuriated British and French expatriates, along with Britons hoping to holiday in France.
Clément Beaune, France’s Europe minister, suggested one reason behind the move could be that other EU countries, which had been waived quarantine, enjoyed “more tourist flows with the UK than us”.
He said he was personally examining the possibility of imposing “reciprocal” measures, even if they would not be implemented immediately.
Spain holidaymakers set to escape quarantine as beta variant cases disappear
British holidaymakers in Spain are poised to escape quarantine next week after ministers received data showing there are no beta variant cases in the country’s main tourist areas.
The analysis, seen by The Telegraph, shows there are no beta cases in the Balearics – the most popular destination for Britons – and none in a huge expanse of the south, from Seville in the west to Granada on the southern coast and Malaga and Murcia in the east.
The variant, which originated in South Africa, is instead concentrated in one region in the north west, but even there it has fallen to below 10 per cent of cases as the delta strain – the dominant variant in the UK – squeezes out the others.
Overall, beta variant cases have fallen to 2.9 per cent of Covid cases in Spain, down from nine per cent.
What happened yesterday?
A recap of the key headlines:
- Government is ‘increasingly confident’ that green and amber lists will grow
- UK faces anxious wait to see if US travel reopens
- Raab: France is ‘amber plus’ due to cases on island 6,000 miles from Paris
- Germany tightens entry restrictions in face of Delta variant
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NI to follow England’s rule change on international travellers
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Bookings from New York to London surge, says Virgin Atlantic
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EU warns against travel to Greece’s south Aegean islands
Now, on with today’s travel news.
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