At present, the UK government is prohibiting the departure from, or arrival into, the United Kingdom from foreign countries for reasons other than ‘essential travel’. In this context, travelling on holiday is not considered to be ‘essential’ and, thus, is currently not permitted.
However, whilst the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advice is currently silent on the matter, statements made by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Transport have identified the 17th May as the earliest date upon which that these restrictions are likely to be lifted. However, the recent findings of the Department of Transport’s ‘Global Travel Taskforce’ have suggested that a ‘traffic light’ system will be introduced as a replacement to the current absolute ban. As yet, the designation attributed to foreign countries has yet to be confirmed although further information on the proposed operation of the scheme can be found in the following link:
Whilst the UK government can impose the re-entry requirements into the member countries of the UK, it has no control over the regulations that may be imposed by governments of destination countries on travellers entering that foreign country. Whilst both Italy (including Sardinia, Sicily and Elba) and France (including Corsica) currently have various entry requirements in place, these may well change prior to the 17th May and, moreover, before your own date of travel.
Whilst we can provide information regarding the present situation, given the evolving nature of these requirements – which, we hope will lead to a relaxation of many – it would not be appropriate to speculate on which of these restrictions may or may not be in place on your travel date. However, we will be updating the information on our website on a regular basis and welcome enquiries from clients – both existing and potential – nearer their scheduled travel dates.
Further information cand be found on the UK government websites:
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france
https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak
The above information is believed to be correct at the time of issue 10:00 13/04/2021
