Portugal’s Tourism Minister Says No Vaccine Needed For Brits This Summer

RITA MARQUES, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Tourism told LBC News that dependent on the pandemic’s situation at the time, the country could open up to British tourists from May or June, with only proof of a negative PCR Covid-19 test taken before travel being sufficient for entry.

Also posting on Twitter, Portugal’s Tourism Minister wrote, “Soon we will receive all those who are eager to visit us, and will be able to do so with confidence and in a safe way.”

At the moment, Portugal is on the UK’s ‘red list’, which means that UK residents returning to the country will need to quarantine for 11 days in a hotel – costing £1,750, but, there are hopes that when Boris Johnson makes his foreign travel announcement on May 17, Portugal will be removed from this list, and placed in the green category of the new ‘traffic light’ system that the UK government is going to operate for foreign travel.

Yesterday, easyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren told Sky News, that he expected all major European nations to be among ‘green’ destinations after May 17, meaning travellers will not need to self-isolate on their return, and was then asked whether the green list would include Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, France, Croatia and Cyprus, despite some having much higher daily case rates than the UK.

Mr Lundgren replied, “Yes, by the time we open up for travel on May 17, and if the government continues to have the plan in place on the two-test system. I wouldn’t see a reason why you wouldn’t have the majority of the countries of Europe in there,” as reported by dailystar.co.uk.