BRITS look set to be able to head on holiday to France this summer after officials lifted a travel ban. But families will have to wait until May 17 before they can make the dash across the Channel under Boris Johnson’s roadmap to freedom. Today French officials opened up the nation to arrivals from a […]
BRITS look set to be able to head on holiday to France this summer after officials lifted a travel ban.
But families will have to wait until May 17 before they can make the dash across the Channel under Boris Johnson’s roadmap to freedom.
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Today French officials opened up the nation to arrivals from a list of nations outside of the EU that had been banned from making non-essential journeys.
Travellers will no longer need a “compelling reason” to come from the UK, along with Australia, South Korea, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore.
The list includes Britain
Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne
The French tourism minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said: “The list includes Britain, because the UK variant now also circulates widely in France.”
He added: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the efforts that have made it possible to slow the epidemic.
“Let’s stay vigilant, let’s stay together.”
Passengers will still need to show a negative PCR test taking in the last 72 hours to be allowed in though.
The new measures come into force on Friday, but Brits will have to wait at least another nine weeks to be able to get across the channel legally.
France is also still under a national curfew from 6pm to 6am everyday, with everyone required to stay at home in the evenings.
While shops are open, restaurants and cafes are closed, along with cinemas, theatres and museums.
It’s not clear when the tourism industry will open up, with the nation still being gripped by the pandemic.
France is seeing around 20,000 new cases a day, and like the rest of the EU is struggling to ramp up its vaccine programme.
It comes in the same week that jabbed Brits will be welcomed back to the Spanish Costas if they have a vaccine passport.
Spain’s tourism minister Reyes Maroto said they could start using the vaccine passport in from mid-May.
It comes as Majorca could open travel corridors from next week – but the UK is unlikely to be on the list.
Greece will also welcome back Brits at the same time and Turkey is expected to follow suit in the coming weeks.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Wednesday Brits will have a better understand on when to book plans this summer from April 12, when he will publish the review of the Global Travel Taskforce’s recommendations.
But he said he was “hopeful” foreign breaks would go ahead.
