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Leaders of the UK and Turkey will meet this month to discuss the prospects of summer leisure travel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.
He is expected to appeal to the Prime Minister to revoke Turkey’s current ‘red list’ status, which prohibits direct flights into England and forces all passengers on non-direct transport to undergo hotel quarantine.
Erdogan has said the decision to red-list Turkey was politically-motivated, and that he could not reach Johnson when the announcement was made last month. Turkey’s own travel restrictions on Britons are markedly more relaxed, requiring a negative PCR test and passenger locator form.
Turkey, which has administered first vaccine doses to 19 per cent of its population, has already held talks with Germany and Russia to prepare for the summer tourism season, which resulted in ‘positive developments’, reports Reuters.
The country will today enter the next phase of its lockdown easing, with a partial lifting of its weekend lockdowns and daily curfews, and a reopening of restaurants.
Scroll down for more on this, and today’s other top travel stories.
School holiday dates could be shaken up, Education Secretary hints
Gavin Williamson has signalled that school holiday periods could be shaken up, in a bid to get the education system back on track post-Covid.
“We wouldn’t be looking at taking an amount of time away from holidays, but we have been looking at the structure of the school year,” the Education Secretary told Sky News.
“At the moment that’s not something we are progressing – our key focus is how the structure of the day best serves students.” He added that the Department for Education was “very much looking at what else is needed”.
Tunisia ends quarantine and testing for vaccinated travellers
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Tunisia has relaxed its entry requirements for fully-vaccinated travellers, and those who have recovered from Covid-19. Eligible visitors will no longer have to quarantine for 7 days on arrival in the country, or take a test before they visit.
Restrictions have also been relaxed for travellers on an organised tour, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or have Covid antibodies. They must still take a PCR test, but are able to travel freely – as long as they remain in their group, and use private transport and accommodation.
All non-exempt travellers aged over 12 must present a negative PCR test, taken 72 hours before their arrival in Tunisia, and self-isolate for seven days.
Airports’ Covid e-gates will be ready by end of June
Covid e-gates for holidaymakers are on course to be ready by the end of June at Britain’s major airports, as Border Force accelerates plans to cope with a potential surge in foreign travel.
Work to update the e-gates at the four major airports of Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham is expected to be largely finished by June 28.
The move suggests the Government aims to be ready for an expansion of foreign holidays in July that could otherwise be thwarted by lengthy queues due to Border Force officers having to conduct manual checks of all arrivals’ passports and passenger locator forms (PLFs).
Tuesday’s headlines
Before we begin, a quick catchup on yesterday’s travel news:
- Heathrow opens terminal for red-list passengers
- France restricts travel from UK to combat Indian variant spread
- More countries to be added to red list amid concerns over Covid variant spread
- Ryanair calls on Grant Shapps to open UK to entire EU
- Islands of Guernsey to drop testing and self-isolation for visiting Britons
- Cyprus could be green-listed this month, says its deputy tourism minister
Now, on with today’s stories.