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England Welcomes Back Jabbed American And EU Tourists Starting Monday

Image Credit: iStock, Inside Creative House

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They won’t roll out the royal carpet for you (that’s reserved for a select few), but Buckingham Palace is yours to explore once more.

Beginning this coming Monday, fully-vaccinated Americans and European tourists are welcome to enter and roam around England and Scotland once again, no longer facing a requirement that they quarantine for ten days. International leisure cruises will also be welcome in England after over a year away from British ports.

Big Benders

Among other recreational activities, the nightlife in London is back. England lifted nearly all remaining social restrictions on July 19, allowing nightclubs and indoor venues to reopen. Restrictions on mass gatherings and social distancing are gone, too.

But the country maintained quarantine rules for foreign travelers, which has held back tourists from America and Europe that don’t have an extra week and a half to spare. As for Covid numbers across the pond, cases are now plummeting in both England and Scotland, but with a major caveat:

  • The number of new infections recorded daily in the U.K. has fallen seven days in a row before a small uptick to 27,734 cases occurred on Wednesday. That’s still down from 46,588 a week earlier, and scientists have been baffled by the rapidly declining case numbers. Deaths within 28 days of a positive test, however, rose to 131 on Tuesday, the highest since March.
  • The mixed news didn’t stop markets from rallying around airlines poised to benefit from the expected surge in travel. Discount airline EasyJet was up 5.3% on Wednesday, Ryanair added 2.6%, and Wizz gained 6.9%, saying it will reach pre-pandemic capacity levels next month.

United Kingdom, But Not So United: It’s unknown how the other two countries in the U.K. will handle easing travel mandates. Wales and Northern Ireland have thus far been mum on whether they’ll mirror the lifted restrictions of neighbors England and Scotland.