Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
I agree. We've postponed our holiday in the Vendee until September.
It still seems as though there are hot spots like Paris, Marseille and Rennes, rather than countrywide.
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[Travel] Holiday plans this summer?
- Thread starter Marty___Mcfly
- Start date
I agree. We've postponed our holiday in the Vendee until September.
It still seems as though there are hot spots like Paris, Marseille and Rennes, rather than countrywide.
banjo
GOSBTS
Greece in July. 
Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 72,321
Greece in July.
Greek island? Looking that's by far the best bet for the Summer. Greek islands will be welcoming Brits with vaccine passports with open arms to save their season. Such a shame it should come to this
banjo
GOSBTS
Fingers crossed. Should have had both jabs by then.
nicko31
Well-known member
Summer holidays abroad 'unlikely', warns government adviser
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56467813
Even if they happen I think travel with kids will be tricky as no vaccine. I'm not expecting any travel this summer, if its possible will be a nice surprise
Pray for a decent summer
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56467813
Even if they happen I think travel with kids will be tricky as no vaccine. I'm not expecting any travel this summer, if its possible will be a nice surprise
Pray for a decent summer
It’s unlikely this will happen
It’s a story made to sound like the Gov view when it’s not, it’s his.
Airlines are gearing up in a way they have been told something is happening.
Beach Hut
Brighton Bhuna Boy
My view as well, we are due to go to Mexico in July do you think it will happen?
I think so, even the states are looking at opening up soonish - Mexico isn’t shut.
Depends on the vaccination levels/case numbers Will depends on what you have to do to get in.
We had a call the other week that mentioned a traffic light system.
Green - nothing needed
Orange - tests/vaccines
Red - hotel
Something like that
Beach Hut
Brighton Bhuna Boy
Agree....think Europe is going to be difficult but will be several locations open for business. Island nations with limited Covid most likely to be the easiest I reckon - will welcome tested/jabbed travellers with open arms.
Yeah, have a read what the Virgin CEO said in the times this week about the states.
What might happen is (this is purely guess work) majority of Europe will be on red/orange list
Israel/USA/UAE/Barbados among others on green - I think it would be a mistake to assume further away would equal automatic red list.
Some of the Island tourist nations have been doing tourism staff first.
Quarantine in a hotel on return (at £1750 a pop) might be a way to discourage too much covid catching holiday making abroad. That way the government can be seen to be relaxing the rules on holidays abroad (good) but only if you pay through the nose for it (not so good, but you are allowed to have a holiday abroad). Big boost for the UK hotel industry too, to help it recover from the losses imposed by lockdown.
Question for [MENTION=522]Kinky Gerbils[/MENTION] (and anyone else working in the travel biz)
On the basis that everyone is sweating on the Gov't announcement of countries in Green/Amber/Red is there any indication of when the announcement is expected? 'Early May' is all I know
Even more helpful would be the expectation of which country in which group ..... specifically I have to pay the balance of a holiday to France by the end of the month.
Numbers in France atm look crap but I'm pretty confident they'll get on top of it so I might have to take a punt (+ all the time India isn't red then I'm assuming nothing more will be!!)
On the basis that everyone is sweating on the Gov't announcement of countries in Green/Amber/Red is there any indication of when the announcement is expected? 'Early May' is all I know
Even more helpful would be the expectation of which country in which group ..... specifically I have to pay the balance of a holiday to France by the end of the month.
Numbers in France atm look crap but I'm pretty confident they'll get on top of it so I might have to take a punt (+ all the time India isn't red then I'm assuming nothing more will be!!)
On or before the 7th is all we’ve been told.
France will be amber I imagine.
https://twitter.com/PPaulCharles/status/1383026164206342149?s=20
This guy updates his chart weekly based on cases/vax numbers.
I'm in the biz, so to speak - there are a few things to highlight currently, firstly a salient bit from the Taskforce Report:
"To respond to the new context, we will launch a new approach for England from 17 May at the earliest, for all countries, to which different restrictions are applied depending on risk. This risk will likely be based on factors such as the level of community transmission of Variants of Concern, levels of testing, genomic sequencing and reporting. This will allow the UK government the flexibility to adapt to the evolving health situation around the world whilst keeping borders open."
So I interpret this as it will be a new approach, so different to last year and the word "likely" in respect of what factors they will use in their risk based approach means that hasn't 100% been agreed yet!
So we can all interpret case numbers, levels of testing and vaccination levels, but I'm not sure where we can get details of individual Country's level of community transmission of Variants of Concern and genomic sequencing capability and reporting - the latter I think is the most important. Paul Charles, as per the post above, has access to the former (as do most of us) but I doubt he has access to the latter and he's been running his own Traffic Light System for the last 9 or so months which the Trade seemed to hang their hat on and that wasn't foolproof either last year when we could travel.
I also agree that the best info is early May for the announcement of green countries, with the 10th May being banded about. At the moment it is all pure speculation.
Today one of the Trade Rags is reporting the following from on Interview with the ABTA Chief:
The restart of international travel this summer will be “gradual” and not an “open sesame” process from May 17, Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer has warned.
Tanzer described it as “explicit and implicit in the government’s taskforce statement that the restart of international travel is going to be a gradual process”.
“We want it to be as quick as possible, and we want there to be a proper summer season, but it’s not going to be a May 17 ‘open sesame’ [and] everyone can travel.”
His comments came amid reports that only eight countries would make the government’s ‘green list’ for safe travel next month.
They are expected to be the US, Gibraltar, Israel, Iceland, Ireland, Malta, and Australia and New Zealand – both currently closed to travellers from overseas, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
However, the entire US may struggle to qualify unless its Covid rates drop.
"To respond to the new context, we will launch a new approach for England from 17 May at the earliest, for all countries, to which different restrictions are applied depending on risk. This risk will likely be based on factors such as the level of community transmission of Variants of Concern, levels of testing, genomic sequencing and reporting. This will allow the UK government the flexibility to adapt to the evolving health situation around the world whilst keeping borders open."
So I interpret this as it will be a new approach, so different to last year and the word "likely" in respect of what factors they will use in their risk based approach means that hasn't 100% been agreed yet!
So we can all interpret case numbers, levels of testing and vaccination levels, but I'm not sure where we can get details of individual Country's level of community transmission of Variants of Concern and genomic sequencing capability and reporting - the latter I think is the most important. Paul Charles, as per the post above, has access to the former (as do most of us) but I doubt he has access to the latter and he's been running his own Traffic Light System for the last 9 or so months which the Trade seemed to hang their hat on and that wasn't foolproof either last year when we could travel.
I also agree that the best info is early May for the announcement of green countries, with the 10th May being banded about. At the moment it is all pure speculation.
Today one of the Trade Rags is reporting the following from on Interview with the ABTA Chief:
The restart of international travel this summer will be “gradual” and not an “open sesame” process from May 17, Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer has warned.
Tanzer described it as “explicit and implicit in the government’s taskforce statement that the restart of international travel is going to be a gradual process”.
“We want it to be as quick as possible, and we want there to be a proper summer season, but it’s not going to be a May 17 ‘open sesame’ [and] everyone can travel.”
His comments came amid reports that only eight countries would make the government’s ‘green list’ for safe travel next month.
They are expected to be the US, Gibraltar, Israel, Iceland, Ireland, Malta, and Australia and New Zealand – both currently closed to travellers from overseas, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
However, the entire US may struggle to qualify unless its Covid rates drop.
Thanks for those 2 replies.
Amber is 'fine' by us but red would kill it. Owner of property where we are staying (reasonably) doesn't want to delay final payment date any longer as i guess it means he misses the opportunity for letting it to a French national or other European.
The sensible thing to do is cancel, but having cancelled each of our last 3 holidays I've become reluctant to the point of being a bit reckless perhaps
Weststander
Well-known member
I suspect we won't know a lot more apart from which Countries are "Green" in early May (which is expected to be only a handful of countries that will let us in!) and the next review date isn't until the end of June, which coincidentally is the end date of the current legislation banning International Travel for non essential reasons.
Unfortunately if you want any kind of certainty, your only option is to cancel, otherwise it's just a waiting game where you have to try and ignore speculation!