UK travel without restrictions 'the news we’ve been waiting for’
Travel with no tests or restrictions should restart for people travelling between Guernsey and the UK from Thursday 1 July.
But those arriving from some other countries will still require tests on arrival and some self-isolation, the Civil Contingencies Authority outlined yesterday.
CCA chairman Peter Ferbrache called it a big step forward, but reassured that the CCA would still ‘fiercely protect’ the community.
‘For the first time since 19 March last year travel from the UK and some other destinations, where the risk is low, will not require either self-isolation or testing,’ he said.
But he warned that things could change, and if so the island would react. Outbreaks or new variants could affect Guernsey’s rules.
‘This is a fast-changing situation,’ he said. ‘And we must all be ready to react.’
For non-Common Travel Area countries, Guernsey will adopt a similar system to the UK, with green, amber and red countries, which would affect what tests are needed and the length of quarantine.
Despite these restrictions, Guernsey Hospitality Association president Alan Sillett said the latest announcement was positive news for local tourism, which has struggled during the pandemic.
‘It’s the news we’ve been waiting for,’ he said.
‘I might have a glass of champagne tonight to celebrate. It provides a great deal of clarity and the good thing about it is that there are reasonably simple to follow guidelines, it’s not too complicated. So this will really give us a lift in allowing visitors to come here from the 1 July onwards, so it’s really, really good news.’
He was hopeful the second half of 2021 would be good for tourism.
‘Staffing is a slight issue, there’s ongoing recruitment drives from a lot of us, a lot of operators are spending a lot of time on recruitment, we’re not there yet but we’ll just to have manage the operations as we can.
‘We’re all trying to get to 1 July or at least some stage in July where we’re fully operational and ready to take advantage of an influx.’
CCA adviser Deputy Heidi Soulsby said there would be public health overrides, meaning that parts of the UK, Ireland or Crown Dependencies could have restrictions if there was an issue of concern, and she warned that arrivals from Ireland might well face restrictions, as Covid rates there are still quite high.
