VisitingbPortugal

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Geoff
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VisitingbPortugal

Post by Geoff »

Portugal travel advice
Change made:
If you are arriving in England from Portugal (including the autonomous regions of Madeira and Azores) on or after 4am on 19 March you will no longer be required to quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel. However, you will need to self-isolate on your arrival, unless you have a valid exemption. Updated information on the easing of lockdown measures. (‘Summary’ and ‘Coronavirus’ pages)

Time updated:
7:23pm, 15 March 2021
Well, it's a start!
FrankSheffield
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Re: VisitingbPortugal

Post by FrankSheffield »

Good news indeed.
Looking at possibly coming over in June. Not an easy question, but does anyone have a view on how things are likely to look by then? Urgently in need of a fix but if we're likely to have to be masked up all the time and restaurants etc. are closed, perhaps better to wait. Clearly there will be some restrictions and we certainly don't want people working in the shops, bars and restaurants to feel at risk from us. We'll have had both our jabs by then, but I guess the main thing I need to have a handle on is whether the people locally want tourists back?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Geoff
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Re: VisitingbPortugal

Post by Geoff »

We're hoping to come out in June, having had 2 jabs also. The Portuguese Tourist Minister was on TV the other week saying she hoped tourists would come from May 17.....a good source of info is :
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advic ... mmediately

Looking at the Portuguese plan to come out of lockdown, from 3 May restaurants can have 6 people per table inside, 10 outside.

My gut reaction is that tourists will be welcomed with (distanced) open arms , they need the revenue. I'm sure we'll need masks in shops. Main worry is that the Portuguese vaccination programme lags behind the UK one, but if properly immunised, we should be OK.

Fingers crossed...don't need to decide will mid May.
FrankSheffield
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Re: VisitingbPortugal

Post by FrankSheffield »

Thanks Geoff. Yes, fingers crossed.
widge
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Re: VisitingbPortugal

Post by widge »

There is much speculation about how and when tourists might return to the Algarve.

The Holiday companies are encouraging bookings with flexibility around dates after June 2nd which might suggest that they anticipate that the government will announce this (on April 12th) as the effective date when non essential travel resumes.

It also seems likely that the EU travel passport will not be ready and, in any event, won't apply to UK citizens. Therefore some form of bilateral agreement between Portugal and UK will be needed before a travel corridor can be established. This will almost certainly require travellers to prove that they have had both jabs and or have tested negative before travelling to / from Portugal.

The impact on time taken processing passengers at airports for both departure and arrival could be very significant especially when combined with the additional complications of post Brexit travel. This is likely to lead to delays, and knowing Portugal / EU, possibly strike action by border force workers.

The vaccination programme in the EU is a shambles and I expect member states to "opt out" of any future initiatives to administer EU wide travel precautions, therefore, a bilateral travel corridor and testing protocol will need to be agreed before UK tourists can return.

One interesting development today is the announcement that P&O are launching around UK cruises at the end of June. To qualify passengers must have received their second jab at least one week before sailing. When asked how P&O would evidence the vaccination status of passengers their spokesman couldn't answer. as no reliable vaccination records are presently available to the public.

This may yet prove to be the most difficult aspect of future travel protocol, different countries, languages, vaccination approvals etc. Suppose certain countries reject the Astra Zeneca vaccine as it is presently in 17 nations ?
Farol
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Re: VisitingbPortugal

Post by Farol »

We have booked a flight for the start of June on the basis of Ryanair allowing changes subject to how long before you are due to travel. If the situation as regards testing for travel in either direction is not resolved then we will postpone travel as we do not want to add £1000 to the trip for the 2 of us. We don't have a problem with the need to quantine at home at either end and have had ours jabs

A vaccine passport of some sort would help but as Michael Gove has been given the responsibilty for this I don't hold out any hope - they just need to keep it simple.
Geoff
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Re: VisitingbPortugal

Post by Geoff »

Looks like a lot of us are hoping for June , reckon Vaccine Passports probably the biggest obstacle to overcome.
PTBUXTON
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Re: VisitingbPortugal

Post by PTBUXTON »

We've just altered our flights from the 6th of June to 27th June, we shall by that time have had our second jab 8th and 18th of May it would also be reassuring to have suitable proof of our jabs by then. We will have to wait and see what happens on that front, but what ever happens and what ever the restrictions being in Portugal our second home of the last 15 years, it will be great to back after 16 months away.
sam
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Re: VisitingbPortugal

Post by sam »

Apparently Portugal are going to let British tourists in with just a negative test as younger people will not have had the vaccine.
Geoff
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Re: VisitingbPortugal

Post by Geoff »

Indeed...the Portuguese Secretary of State for Tourism was on the BBC Today programme this morning, to confirm all welcome from 17 May as long as people had a valid Certification of Vaccination, or -ve test......so, fingers crossed for the Vaccination Certificate , though it does seem a bit iffy to have it by June!
widge
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Re: VisitingbPortugal

Post by widge »

Listening to Professor Neil Ferguson on the radio this morning and he is strongly advising against international travel until everyone is vaccinated much later this year.
He is concerned that the South African variant is gathering pace in France and will spread throughout continental Europe on the back of the third wave. Tourists from the UK or visitors to the UK will transmit this variant before we can develop and modify the vaccine to protect us. This would be a serious setback just when we're making progress.

Very tough call for politicians to make but they'll make that decision April 12th I guess.
widge
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Re: VisitingbPortugal

Post by widge »

Why you can trust Sky News

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned holidays abroad are "highly unlikely" this summer due to the risks posed by new COVID variants.

In a statement to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, Ms Sturgeon dampened hopes of Scots being able to jet overseas in the near future.

Delivering a coronavirus update to MSPs, in which she confirmed the phased return of Scottish pupils to classrooms from Monday, the first minister also advised Scots against booking holidays abroad or staycations during the Easter holidays.

"We are likely to advise against booking Easter holidays, either overseas or within Scotland, as it is highly unlikely that we will have been able to fully open hotels or self-catering accommodation by then," Ms Sturgeon said.

"For the summer, while it is still highly unlikely that overseas holidays will be possible or advisable, staycations might be - but this will depend on the data nearer the time.

"However, given the risks posed by new variants of this virus, it is hard to overstate the necessity of being careful, cautious and gradual as we exit this lockdown, if we want to avoid another one later in the year.
Geoff
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Re: VisitingbPortugal

Post by Geoff »

DT reports today that EU Vaccination Passports may start from June 15...so no chance of us in UK getting them for some time. We wouldn't want the expense/problems of getting tests, so unless UK comes up with some internationally recognised vaccination passports by then , it looks like bye-bye to June in CVO!
Fingers crossed for September.
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