Fully vaccinated travellers from South Africa will be allowed to enter the United Kingdom without needing to quarantine following the country’s removal from the UK’s controversial ‘red list’, devised to regulate travel according to country-specific Covid-19 risk factors.
The move is critical to the resuscitation of South Africa’s tourism sector, which has been pummelled by local and international Covid-19 restrictions.
BusinessInsider reported that, after the announcement, Google Trends showed a sharp spike in searches for ‘travel to South Africa’ from within the United Kingdom, noting that ‘airline booking systems showed that seats were going fast – and at great prices’.
It said that on Thursday night, an adult round-trip ticket from London to Johannesburg covering the prime Christmas week was going for the equivalent of slightly over R57 000 on Virgin Atlantic – and that was for its ‘economy classic’ offering.
The UK has traditionally been South Africa’s biggest source of international tourists. Travel groups, tourism organisations, and government departments have spent months lobbying for South Africa to be removed from the red list, arguing that the data used to inform the restrictions was incorrect.
BusinessInsider cited a World Travel & Tourism Council estimate that the South African economy lost R790 million for every month the country was on the red list. The country has been on the red list since May, with travel restrictions stretching as far back as December 2020.
The latest UK update, which comes into effect on Monday 11 October, also approves South Africa’s proof of vaccination.
Travellers are still required to complete a passenger locator form and provide a negative Covid-19 test result.
Unvaccinated travellers will still be allowed to enter the UK but will need to quarantine at home or in their place of accommodation for ten days.
Only seven countries will now remain on the UK’s red list: Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
[Image: Rachel Moore from Pixabay]