After many complaints in the industry pertaining to the complicated and messy state of Covid rules in Europe, the EU plan to simplify rules for all fully vaccinated travellers, including Brits.
In recent months, the fluctuating restrictions in the EU states have caused a lot of discussion concern around consumer confidence. With some EU states dropping most restrictions in line with many other destinations and the UK, while others have put up more resistance to the EU’s plans.
After the spread of the Omicron variant, there have been many destinations changing their restrictions. The announcement on Tuesday the 22nd of February has presented a great sign of EU travel restrictions moving forward.
In the EU’s plans for a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to travel in the near future, they have aimed to simplify the rules and unite the EU states for better ease of entry.
With these plans to go ahead on the 1st of March, this could see a huge boost in UK consumer confidence as the potential for stress-free Easter holidays to Europe is greater with the rules becoming easier to navigate.
These plans to simplify rules will be on a recommendation basis, with none of them being legally binding. Despite this, most EU and EEA countries have agreed to follow these rules concerning the entry of fully vaccinated travellers.
As of the 1st of March, the EU plans to recommend the following plan to member states for fully vaccinated travellers entering Europe:
- Adults will be allowed entry without a pre-departure test if they qualify as fully vaccinated.
- Children aged 6-18 will be allowed entry without a pre-departure test even if they are only partially vaccinated or unvaccinated.
- Adults will qualify as fully vaccinated if they have had their second dose between 14- and 270-days pre-departure, or if they have received their booster.
- Those who have recovered from Covid within the last 180 days will be exempt from unvaccinated restrictions.
Partially vaccinated or unvaccinated adults will still be subject to the isolation rules of each member state. This has been a point of contention for some in the travel industry since the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, recently announced the abolishment of domestic self-isolation rules for those testing positive in the UK.
It is suspected that most countries will keep the passenger locator forms, but some may simplify the form to reduce the time spent by travel businesses and their consumers. This is a plan that UK’s Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, has claimed to be working towards.
The plan for the EU to simplify rules for fully vaccinated travellers is fantastic news and we anticipate another great boost to consumer confidence to come as the Easter holidays approach.
This is only part of the good news for travel that has come of late, so if you’d like to stay up to date with the great news coming to travel in 2022, check out the PTS Blog.
And if you’d like to learn more about how your consumers’ monies are protected with Protected Trust Services (PTS) and how we support excellent travel businesses, check out our pages. Or you can get in touch with the lovely PTS team by calling 0207 190 9988 or emailing us at ask@protectedtrustservices.com.
