Foreign
BRITAIN on Thursday announced air bridges allowing quarantine-free travel to major European holiday destinations as it relaxes the country’s coronavirus lockdown, reports said.
Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Greece, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Gibraltar, and Bermuda are expected to be on a list of “air bridge” nations.
Travel consultant Paul Charles, who led a campaign against the government’s imposition of a 14-day quarantine for most arrivals to Britain since June 8, said he expected short-haul destinations to dominate the list of exemptions.
Charles named France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Greece, Gibraltar as expected “air bridge” destinations.
“Long-haul is way off, possibly September, and the USA/Latin America more like November,” he said.
Earlier, Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis said he wanted British tourists to resume visiting Greece when it re-opens to European tourists from July 1.
“We feel that the risk of someone contracting the disease in Greece is much lower than most of the countries in Europe and indeed the rest of the world,” Theoharis said.
Meanwhile, airlines and other aviation firms had strongly opposed the quarantine rule, which requires all arrivals to self-isolate for 14 days, warning it could bring economic disaster.
The airlines said the government had effectively banned people from traveling to countries with lower coronavirus infection rates than Britain.
Britain has reported 43,000 deaths linked to infections with coronavirus, Europe’s highest total. (dpa/NAN)
– Jun. 25, 2020 @ 14:19 GMT |
Tags: Britain to open ‘air bridges’ to European destinations
