Portugal has confirmed today that British tourists will be allowed to enter the country from next Monday, after it held crunch talks with the EU about non-essential travel. They had been expected to lift its ban on European tourists entering, including Britons, from this Sunday, but yesterday it emerged that this might not be until May 30th.
This lunchtime, the country's foreign ministry confirmed that it would revoke the 'essential travel' restrictions in place until Sunday, meaning that Britons can visit.
A Visit Portugal spokesman said in a statement today: 'The options are wide for the British Tourists to visit Portugal, from any point. People from the United Kingdom have visited Portugal and celebrated our culture, traditions, landmarks, history, and enjoyed our warm hospitality for decades. We look forward to welcome all travellers coming from the UK.'
All visitors must present a negative PCR test for Covid-19 taken within 72 hours of their flight departing, with many now facing a rush to sort this over the weekend. But the news will come as a relief to UK tourists who had been concerned that all holidays booked to Portugal next week, to coincide with the UK's own travel ban being lifted on Monday, would have to be cancelled.
This move puts further pressure on the EU to make an agreement in which it will include the UK on its permitted travel list from as early as next Thursday, May 20th, as requested by the Minister of Tourism for Spain, Reyes Maroto.
She says that even in amber there are thousands of Brits, especially property owners that want to come to Spain, and in addition, hopes that the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands will be reviewed separately from the mainland by the UK for the June 7th green list inclusions, due to their incidence rates.
