France to ease border restrictions for British holidaymakers

The French Foreign Ministry has said that they are to ease border restrictions for several countries, including the UK.

Travellers will still have to provide a negative test, less than 72 hours prior to travel which will remain in place.

The Ministry said people will no longer require a compelling reason for travelling from Australia, South Korea, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, the UK and Singapore to France.

Greece, Portugal and Spain are opening their borders for Brits who are vaccinated and or must provide a negative test.

By the end of May the Spanish authorities have said “vaccine passports” could be rolled out to welcome holidaymakers back.

On Wednesday Maria Reyes Maroto, the Minister of Tourism said Spain “could be in a position to start implementing the digital passport in May.”

But Maroto said the vaccine passports will depend on how many people have been vaccinated across Spain.

On Tuesday the Greek Tourism Minister, Harry Theocharis said his country will open up to tourists who have been vaccinated, have antibodies or can provide a negative test.

Theocharis said that demand for British holidaymakers is already “picking up because there’s a lot more optimism with the way the vaccination programme is progressing.”

However, the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is urging Brits to show restraint, as the 17 May date to reopen travel is the “earliest date.”

Shapps was asked is it still too early to book holidays, he told the BBC’s Today programme, “Yes, in as much as we know that the Global Travel Taskforce that I’m running reports on 12 April.

“We’ve said that it will remain illegal to travel internationally til at least 17 May. That’s an ‘at the earliest’ date.”