United Kingdom hotel quarantines dealt a blow. Image : File
Ireland ditching hotel quarantines a UK loophole to some from SA
Ireland has scrapped hotel quarantines for all arriving travellers. The move poses a threat to the sustainability of the UK’s hotel managed quarantine arrangement and could be a loophole to UK and Irish travellers returning from SA.
United Kingdom hotel quarantines dealt a blow. Image : File
Ireland has recently terminated its hotel-managed quarantine scheme which allows all vaccinated people to enter Ireland – including from destinations considered as high risk or that are red-listed by the United Kingdom.
Ireland said that hotel quarantines were a necessary measure at an extraordinary time during the pandemic, but that they are no longer required. Travellers that arrive in Ireland without proof of vaccination or a recent Covid-19 test will be told to self-isolate.
MOVEMENT BETWEEN IRELAND AND THE UK
Travel arrangements for the Common Travel Area (made up of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, as well as Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man) enables residents of the two countries to move freely without checks of travel documents when moving inside the Common Area.
For British and Irish citizens, travel between the two countries is subject only to spot checks at their borders. According to Business Insider, travel rules between the two countries means their citizens are not asked for standard Covid-19-related passenger locator forms that list where they recently travelled.
BYPASSING UK HOTEL QUARANTINE
Ireland now offers a loophole to United Kingdom and Irish travellers returning from destinations (including South Africa) that are currently listed on the United Kingdom’s red-list.
This effectively enables UK and Irish nationals to bypass the UK’s expensive hotel quarantines by transitting through Ireland when travelling to the United Kingdom from red-listed countries. A citizen of Ireland or Britain could leave South Africa on one air ticket, and continue over to the UK on a separate ticket.
PUTTING PRESSURE ON UK
This policy change in Ireland puts pressure on the UK government to also drop its hotel-quarantine scheme. The move will certainly be welcomed by South Africans, who have been subject to an extended travel ban since December last year.
Travellers arriving in the UK from red-listed destinations including South Africa must pay £2 285 (R45 000) for state-managed hotel quarantine stays when entering the UK.
This arrangement has drawn the ire of South Africans who have born the brunt of the banning, as well as the tourism sectors of various countries in Southern Africa who have suffered huge losses in tourist revenues due to a lack of visitors from the United Kingdom.
Tags:
