Turkey to welcome Brits this summer even without vaccine

The country is "looking forward to welcoming British tourists with open arms"

In a move that is in contrast to most other nations, Turkey's tourism minister Mehmet Ersoy  announced that the country plans not to require proof of a vaccine from those wishing to enter the country. Highlighting the UK in particular, Ersoy said: "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."

British tourism is big business for Turkey, with 2.5 million Brits visiting the country in 2019, so the government are keen to not miss out this summer. Addressing any safety concerns that potential visitors to Turkey may have, Ersoy said that the country has "world-class border processes in place for ensuring travel will be low-risk throughout Turkey", and that employees in hotels and will be prioritised for Covid vaccines before the summer season begins. Of course leisure travel is currently banned in the UK under current lockdown restrictions, but this may change from May 17th. A report from the government's Global Travel Taskforce will set out recommendation for how and when foreign holidays can resume again. This report will be provided to to the prime minister on April 12th. Currently most countries require some sort of verification that visitors are not infected before they are allowed to enter the country. Greece for example has said that they will require tourists to have either been vaccinated, had a recent negative test, or have evidence of Covid-19 antibodies. Meanwhile Cyprus has announced that Brits will be able to enter the country from May but only if they have had both doses of the vaccine. So don't give up on those dreams of sunny beaches and drinks by the pool. They may not be quite as far away as they feel.