The 4th of July was a monumental day for the holiday and tourism industry, it was the day that the foreign office changed its advice against all but essential travel. Following this the UK government announced their ‘travel corridors’ initiative. The introduction of travel corridors otherwise known as air bridges means there are now fifty nine countries you can travel to whereby on your return to England you will not have to self isolate for fourteen days. Unfortunately it’s not quite that simple, just because the government has said you don’t have to quarantine on your return to the UK doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t have to quarantine on arrival to the country you intend on visiting. As a UK national you may even be barred from entering certain countries that are in the travel corridors initiative such as New Zealand. Before you go ahead and book a holiday to one of the countries that we have an air bridge with, do your research and make sure, 1, that you will be allowed to enter the country and, 2, that you won’t have to self isolate for two weeks on arrival at your holiday destination. To find out which countries are part of the travel corridors initiative, click on the link below, there is also further information explaining how the countries individually handle tourists on arrival.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-travel-corridors
Most importantly, if you are not flying directly to your holiday destination and you are going to have a lay over in another country, do not stop in a country that isn’t part of the travel corridor scheme as that will mean you will have to self isolate for two weeks when you get back to England. It doesn’t matter if you are only stopping for a short lay over, you would be required by the government to self isolate regardless.
Like me, if none of this scares you from booking a holiday this year, there is actually quite a lot of good deals to take advantage of. The tourism industry has been hit as hard as any so it’s no surprise there are countless offers and holiday promotions to pick from. I would recommend having a look at lastminute.com, booking.com, and Ryanair where there are plenty of offers to be snapped up.
When it comes to travel insurance its important to know that pretty much all insurers won’t cover claims related to coronavirus. The only insurer I found that revamped its policy to cover Covid-19 claims was the holiday company ‘trailfinders’. You can find out more about their Coronavirus insurance package here: https://www.trailfinders.com/insurance. The general problem with holiday insurance in light of recent events is that they aren’t able to cover you against government issued restrictions on travel. At the end of the day booking a trip abroad is a risky game, so if you do decide to go away your best bet is to book a short trip that isn’t going to hurt your bank account too much as we are still in pretty uncertain times. Chances are your holiday won’t get cancelled, but don’t splurge out and take unnecessary risks.
