France ‘poised to relax entry rules’ for vaccinated travellers
France is reportedly poised to relax rules for vaccinated travellers in time for half term holidays.
A French government minister said it would drop the requirement for vaccinated travellers from outside the EU to have a negative Covid test before arrival, according to the Telegraph.
France’s Europe minister Clement Beaune suggested it would be confirmed this week in time for Britons seeking skiing and other half term trips across the Channel.
Unvaccinated children over 12 are currently required to self isolate for ten days on arrival but the NHS app showing if a child has had a prior infection is now integrated into the French system and is accepted as a substitute for being fully jabbed.
France last week changed its qualifying period for vaccination status for UK travellers, saying they will have to get a booster if they received their second dose any earlier than May last year.
To be recognised as fully jabbed, anyone aged 18 or over should have had their primary full vaccination course within the past nine months or a Covid-19 booster.
Tests for vaccinated travellers are being dropped by countries such as Portugal and Greece as the wave of Omicron that swept the continent has abated.
However, Spain has said it would reject European Union plans to accept Covid-19 recovery certificates, meaning families with single-jabbed children will be unable to travel.
Jorge Marichal, president of the Tenerife Hoteliers Association, wants the Spanish government to change its rules so that more British families can travel.
He told the BBC: “The loss could be nearly €400 million in the Canary Islands. That’s only talking about the hotels – if we take into account the restaurant economy [too] it is a huge impact.
“For us the British market is the biggest one. We have more than 2.5 millon British citizens coming to Tenerife every normal year. For us this part of the year is one of the most important. All these profits will be lost.”
