Greece, Portugal and Morocco to cut restrictions for British travellers

Countries across Europe are relaxing rules for tourists ahead of half-term

Travel restrictions for an increasing number of popular tourist destinations are being axed.

A week ahead of half-term for many British families, rules are easing across Europe as “competitive reopening” gets under way – with nations seeking to rebuild their tourism industries ahead of rivals.

As predicted, Portugal has removed the need for a pre-departure test from vaccinated UK travellers, while Morocco has opened for the first time in 16 weeks.

Greece has also dropped the requirement for tests from fully vaccinated arrivals – though the country is about to regard jabs received over seven months ago as expired.

These are the key developments for fully vaccinated travellers:

Australia

The prime minister has announced the country will open to foreign tourists from 21 February. The biggest state, Western Australia, will remain off limits.

Greece

“From Monday 7 February 2022, travellers able to demonstrate full vaccination status will be exempt from the requirement to take any pre-departure test in order to enter Greece,” says the Foreign Office. The official Greek site is still quoting rules that expired at 6am today.

Morocco

The ban on tourists has expired. The national tourist office says: “Passengers travelling to Morocco must present a vaccination pass and a negative PCR test result less than 48 hours old before boarding the plane.”

Portugal

The requirement for a pre-departure test has been dropped for fully vaccinated travellers with immediate effect.

UK

Post-arrival tests are dropped for fully vaccinated travellers from 4am on Friday 11 February. The passenger locator form will still be required. Self-isolation ends for unvaccinated arrivals, though a pre-departure test and post-arrival PCR will still be required.

The three most popular nations for British holidaymakers – Spain, France and Italy – continue to impose relatively harsh restrictions.

Spain will not accept any visitors from the UK aged 12 or over who have not been fully vaccinated, while France and Italy have strict access rules for venues that are dependent on vaccination – with time limits on the validity of jabs.