Good news for Florida holidays as US reveals plan to open to fully vaccinated travellers
THE US has announced they are working on plans to welcome tourists into the country if they have been fully vaccinated – which is great new for Brits.
The UK has been on the US travel ban list since March 2020.
However, in a boost to holidays in the US, an official told Reuters that President Joe Biden is working to have “a new system ready for when we can reopen travel”.
They added that it would be “a phased approach that over time will mean, with limited exceptions, that foreign nationals traveling to the United States – from all countries – need to be fully vaccinated.”
Industry leaders think that it could be weeks if not months before restrictions are lifted.
This means a trip to Florida – popular with Brits due to both Disney World and Universal Orlando – or to New York could go ahead again this year.
The UK recently lifted quarantine restrictions for vaccinated Americans to travel, although the US is also still on the UK’s amber list, which requires a 10-day quarantine unless vaccinated.
The good news follows comments by Dr Antony Fauci who said he “couldn’t predict” that while travel between the UK and US could restart soon.
PHASED APPROACH
However, he said: “I think once [the UK] get more and more people vaccinated and get the people who’ve gotten a single dose to make sure they get their second dose, I think the UK is going to be in a very favourable position by the time we get to the end of the summer.”
Before the outbreak of coronavirus, the UK-US air corridor was one of the busiest in the world.
More than five million people from the UK visited the US every year, with 4.5 million trips made in the reverse direction.
Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest updates
Airlines including Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have been pushing for a travel corridor between the UK and the US, citing the strong vaccine rollout in both countries.
British Airways has already been increasing their flight schedule between the US and the UK, with New York to London flights up from 17 per week to 21 per week.
The news also follows more countries being added to the UK’s green list last night, which included Germany, Austria and Norway.
The UAE was also added to the amber list, along with India, although it was bad news for Mexico which is now on the red list.