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UPDATE: What rules do European countries have for travellers from the UK?

The UK government has announced that from July 19th vaccinated holidaymakers from England no longer have to quarantine when returning from countries in Europe. But that doesn't necessarily mean Europe is open for British tourists. Here's a rundown on the rules different countries have in place.

Published: 28 May 2021 14:34 CEST
Updated: 8 July 2021 14:57 CEST
UPDATE: What rules do European countries have for travellers from the UK?
What rules do European countries have in place for travel from the UK? (Photo by Piero Cruciatti / AFP)

What is the latest announcement from the UK?

On Thursday July 8th the UK government announced that holidaymakers from England, specifically those who were vaccinated in the UK’s National Health Service, no longer have to quarantine on return from amber list countries if they are fully vaccinated.

The rule change will kick in on July 19th and could effectively open up tourism from England to Europe (European countries were all classed as amber as of July 8th) for fully vaccinated travellers. It was not clear whether Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would follow the lead and apply the same measure.

Travellers would still need to take a PCR test two days after returning to England. Full vaccination is classed by the UK as 14 days after the final dose.

Under 18s do not have to quarantine.

Does this also cover Brits living in Europe?

No. The rule change only covers those vaccinated under the NHS. So most Britons living abroad and indeed other foreign nationals who travel to the UK from amber countries would still be subject to quarantine and testing rules.

That means for the moment anyone travelling to the UK has to quarantine for 10 days and take PCR tests on day two and day eight.

However things could change. The UK’s Transport Minister Grant Shapps is expected to make a further announcement later this month on whether fully vaccinated travellers who were inoculated in certain countries, such as EU member states or the US can also skip quarantine.

The EU has the UK have been negotiating over the mutual recognition of Covid health passes, which would allow those vaccinated against Covid-19, those who have recovered or are able to show a recent negative test to skip quarantine and testing requirements.

Of course the rapid spread of the Delta variant in the UK might complicate those negotiations and force EU countries to impose new restrictions on UK travellers. So while the UK government has opened a way for tourism it doesn’t necessarily mean Europe is open for tourists from the UK

What rules are in place for UK travellers heading to Europe?

When the UK variant was detected last December, EU countries took a coordinated approach in an attempt to slow the spread, with the Italian health minister saying travel restrictions were needed while more studies on the new strain were carried out.

But this time, countries’ responses to the Delta strain, which was first identified in India, have varied much more.

France has placed the UK on the orange list of its traffic light travel system, which differentiates between vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers.

Vaccinated travellers from the UK can come to France for any reason including tourism and do not need to quarantine. They do, however need a negative Covid test, either a PCR test taken within the previous 72 hours or an antigen test taken within the previous 48 hours. Home test kits are not accepted.

Unvaccinated travellers are mostly not allowed to travel to France, only travel for essential reasons and for French citizens or residents is allowed – find the full list of reasons HERE. They need a negative Covid test to enter and must quarantine for 7 days on arrival, although this can be done at home.

All travellers need to fill in a declaration stating that they have no Covid symptoms and have not been in contact with a Covid patient in the past 14 days? You can find the form HERE. 

READ ALSO How does France’s traffic light travel system work?

Germany classified the UK as a ‘virus variant area of concern’ in May and closed its borders to travellers from Britain over concerns about the Delta variant.

But on July 7th, Germany eased travel rules for the UK – along with four other countries where the Delta variant of Covid is widespread. The UK is now in the the ‘high incidence’ risk category. 

People who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 coming from high incidence areas like the UK do not have to quarantine on arrival. They can also show their proof of vaccination/recovery before boarding a flight to Germany instead of a negative Covid test. 

People coming from high incidence areas who aren’t vaccinated have to show a negative Covid test before departure to Germany, and quarantine for 10 days on arrival with the option to end it after five days with a negative Covid test. 

Everyone has to log proof of test, vaccination or record on Germany’s entry registration portal before travel.

The German government still warns against travel to high incidence areas, but there are no bans in place. 

READ MORE: Germany’s new travel rules for the UK, Portugal and India

Austria has ended its ban on direct flights from the UK as of June 21st, however entry is limited to Austrian or European residents or citizens. In late June, Austria extended its ban on British arrivals until August 31st. More information is available here. 

On July 2nd, the rules for UK travellers heading to Spain changed, requiring them to show either a negative Covid-19 test or a vaccination certificate. 

An update from the Spanish Embassy in London was released on July 5th adding that Spanish and EU travellers and their families, as well as British residents in Spain could now enter Spain with an antigen test instead of the negative PCR, LAMP or TMA tests. 

However, for British and other third-country citizens coming from the UK who are residents in the UK, antigen tests are not accepted. 

Throughout June, travellers from the UK were able to enter Spain without the need to present a negative test or vaccination certificate. 

READ MORE: Everything Brits need to know about travel to Spain under new rules in July 2021

Sweden has no specific guidance for travellers from the UK, but they are currently subject to an entry ban that applies to all non-EU countries. This means people can only enter Sweden from the UK if they meet two conditions: they must belong to a category exempt from the entry ban (including Swedish residents, EU citizens, and people travelling for essential reasons) and they also need to show a negative Covid-19 test no older than 48 hours (although there is a different list of exemptions from the test requirement, including Swedish residents).

Switzerland on June 25th allowed UK arrivals after a ban which lasted several months. Anyone arriving from the UK will need to have been vaccinated (within the past 12 months) or have recovered from the virus within the past six months and be able to prove it. 

There are no obligations to quarantine or even to take a test for UK arrivals who have been vaccinated or recovered. More information is available here. 

Norway is currently only allowing residents, citizens and the close family and partners of residents and citizens to enter from the UK. 

All arrivals from the UK will be required to quarantine for at least seven days somewhere with a private bedroom and bathroom. If they return a negative PCR test after day seven, they will be released quarantine.

Travellers who have been fully vaccinated or have had Covid-19 in Norway and are able to prove so via Norway’s Covid certificate will be able to skip quarantine. Those with only one dose will have to quarantine for three days before testing out of quarantine. 

Residents returning to Norway from the UK will need to provide some form of proof that they lived in Norway before their departure, such as a rental contract.

Travellers returning to Norway, including those from the UK, will have to present a negative test taken within 24 hours of their departure flight. This can be either a PCR test or a rapid antigen test. Travellers also need to fill out a registration form before their departure and take a test at the airport when they arrive in Norway.

Partners of Norwegian residents and citizens wishing to travel to Norway will need to complete a free application with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration prior to travelling. 

Fully vaccinated travellers with a Norwegian Covid certificate won’t be required to register, or take the Covid-19 tests. 

Italy reinstated a mandatory quarantine and testing for UK arrivals from June 21st amid concern about the spread of the Delta variant.

READ ALSO: How should travellers from the UK quarantine in Italy?

Travel into Italy from the UK is still allowed for any reason. However, anyone who has been on British territory in the 14 days before arrival in Italy must quarantine for five days on arrival, regardless of nationality, and take a second coronavirus test at the end of the isolation period.

Anyone found not to be following these rules could face hefty fines, including up to €1000 for breaking quarantine.

Member comments

  2. I scoured this article to see if it would say anything about Denmark but it didn’t, which surprises me for an English language newspaper in Denmark.

  4. Over the past week we have crossed the German, Swiss, French, and Italian borders in both directions. Despite having the appropriate documentations we have not been stopped or checked anywhere. We used main border crossings.

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TOURISM

Can tourism in France surpass pre-pandemic levels this year?

A report from the World Travel & Tourism Council predicts that the French tourism sector will bounce back strongly in 2022, potentially even surpassing pre-pandemic levels. We spoke to people in the tourist industry to see how they feel about the future.

Published: 25 February 2022 13:51 CET
Can tourism in France surpass pre-pandemic levels this year?

Covid-19 has battered the French tourism sector. 

In 2019, before the pandemic, tourism accounted for about 8 percent of French GDP and 9.5 percent of all jobs. The 90 million tourists who visited the country that year brought in an estimated €170 billion. 

While France is thought to remain the most visited country in the world, the last couple of years have been a disaster. Only 40 million people visited the country from overseas in 2020 (54 percent less than in 2019). Official figures for 2021 have not been released but the total number of foreign tourists was thought to be 50 million, according to government projections before the end of the year. Many have felt a real-life impact of this. 

Simon Burke left his job as an HR director for a Paris-based tour company called Fat Tire Bike Tours last year. Withering tourist numbers meant the company was running on a skeleton staff, making his role redundant.

But in September, he incorporated a new business – Txango Tours – offering tourists guided visits of Paris, Versailles and other parts of the country in motorcycle sidecar. 

“It is really a childhood dream. I’m feeling optimistic about this season,” he said. 

Simon Burke tests out a Txango Tour sidecar in Paris.

Simon Burke tests out a Txango Tour sidecar in Paris. (Source: Txango Tours)

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, Simon’s confidence is not misplaced.

The organisation predicts strong growth in the French tourism sector this year if restrictions continue to be gradually lifted. It said that tourism industry could bring €182 million into France in 2022 and that the number of people working in it could even surpass pre-pandemic levels. 

Data from France’s national statistical authority for the last quarter of 2021 showed that tourist accommodation bookings were 8.6 percent lower than the same period in 2019, before the pandemic.

It indicated a bounce-back in domestic tourism with residents spending just 3 percent fewer nights in hotels, campsites, gites and other tourist sites than before the pandemic, but international tourists were still hesitant, with 33 percent fewer hotel stays than in 2019. 

Even before the pandemic, domestic tourism (French people holidaying within their own country) accounted for 70 percent of all tourism revenue, and over the last two years the government has promoted staycations as a ‘patriotic’ option to support the tourism industry.

But for some, the outlook remains bleak.  

Clare Dawson, who is based in the Alpine resort of Tignes, runs a website called tignes.co.uk through which she and her small team rent out dozens of self-catered chalets, organise airport transfers and hire out ski equipment. 

In the past, Clare has relied largely on seasonal workers from Britain, mostly employed on part-time contracts. But because of Brexit, this option is now much harder – given the visa requirements. 

“We just can’t get the staff,” she said. 

“Of course, we are all hoping that Covid is a short term thing, but Brexit is permanent”. 

Local labour market conditions in France mean that the local population prefer to avoid temporary, part-time contracts. The hospitality sector had been struggling to recruit enough staff even before Brexit and Covid. 

Seasonal Businesses in Travel (SBIT) which is a collective of more than 200 British tourism businesses operating in the EU placed 7,000 adverts on for chalet worker jobs in pôle emploi centres during the 2018-19 ski season, guaranteeing that they would employ anyone who applied. In total, there were three responses to the ad, two of which were spam emails. 

The mountains though, haven’t escaped the pandemic altogether. Clare has had foreign guests cancel reservations at the last minute over concerns about the vaccine pass and ski lifts have been closed at various points during the pandemic. 

Her partner runs a ski rental company called Tignes Spirit which has cut staffing from 35 last year, to just 10. 

“For ski businesses, it has been a really tough couple of years,” said Clare. 

The French government has invested billions of euros in supporting the French tourism over the course of the pandemic and unveiled a further €1.9 billion in financing in November to help develop the sector further over a ten-year period – much of this funding has been earmarked for training people to work in hospitality roles.  

READ MORE What you need to know about the French ‘Tourism Plan’

Perhaps even more significant than all this spending is the easing of Covid restrictions, according to SBIT managing director, Charles Owen. 

“In terms of a bounce back, everything is relative,” he said.

“With the end of the UK-France travel ban and with restrictions being wound back, we are starting to recover. But the pandemic has caused a lasting amount of damage and many firms have not survived.” 

The US government issued a level-4 travel warning for France in December, placing it in the red do-not-travel category. This is particularly damaging to some in the industry. 

More recently the four-month booster shot requirement for the vaccine pass has created difficulties for some Americans, leading to the US Embassy issuing a warning for people to check carefully the vaccine pass rules before booking a trip. 

“The candy-loaded piñata is the American market – we need them to come here,” said Simon.

The French government is talking about lifting restrictions such as mask-wearing and vaccine pass rules in the spring, when the health situation permits.

But there is no guarantee that rules would not be reimposed if a new variant emerges – epidemiologists have warned that this cannot be ruled out. 

For Simon though, the sooner that such restrictions are lifted, the better. 

“If France continues to require the vaccine to do anything in France, tourism will not return to the pre-pandemic levels we are all hoping for,” he said. 

“I think, really, restrictions need to go away. But that is just wishful thinking.” 

You can find all the latest on travel rules and testing requirements in our Travelling to France section.

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