Turkey set to welcome unvaccinated Brits ‘with open arms’ this summer
Turkey has announced plans to welcome UK holidaymakers this summer without proof of a Covid vaccine.
Tourism minister Mehmet Ersoy said the country will also be unlikely to require a negative Covid test from UK travellers, as it seeks to revive its ailing tourism industry after almost a year of closure.
Ersoy added that Turkey would not require a vaccine passport from international travellers, and that the country is “looking forward to welcoming British tourists with open arms”.
“We have world-class border processes in place for ensuring travel will be low-risk throughout Turkey,” he said.
Ersoy added: “We are working with the British authorities to ensure these necessary processes are world class and as up to date as possible. We will not require vaccination passports from international travellers when entering the country.”
“I expect there will be no such requirement from British visitors as the UK government is rapidly and impressively rolling out the vaccination programme for the whole nation, and a significant portion of the population will be vaccinated by early summer,” he said.
British nationals made more than 2.5m visits to Turkey in 2019, according to official government figures.
Sururi Çorabatır, chair of the Turkey Hoteliers Federation, said earlier this year that the country plans to pull in 25m to 30m visitors in 2021 as its tourism industry attempts to spring back from months of international restrictions.
“2021 is the year of crawling and standing up. 2022 to 2023 will be the year of running,” said Çorabatır.
It comes after Spain last week joined Cyprus and Greece in announcing plans for allowing Brits to return later this year, but said they would require proof of vaccination for travellers to enter.
International travel from the UK is currently banned until at least 17 May, with departing Brits now obliged to fill out a form stating their reasons for essential travel.
The Prime Minister last month appointed Michael Gove to oversee a review into the possibility of vaccine passports. The taskforce, which will report its findings to Boris Johnson on 12 April, has been asked to ensure “that any shorter-term changes act as a bridge to longer-term objectives on delivering vaccine certification to facilitate travel”.
More than 23m people in the UK have already received their first dose of a vaccine, including all top four priority groups. The Prime Minister has set a fresh target to offer a first infection to all over-50s by 15 April, with all adults in the UK set to be vaccinated by 31 July at the latest.