Austria is to require visitors from four countries including the UK to have booster jabs and a negative PCR test to enter, or face quarantine, as of Christmas Day.
The move will come as a blow to British skiers who booked to visit the country in the coming weeks and who do not meet the tightened entry requirements.
The Austrian government held a Covid summit on Wednesday December 22 where it agreed the new restrictions. It followed speculation that Austria would introduce quarantine for all UK arrivals.
The Austrian National Tourist Office tweeted to confirm: “The UK will be classified as a virus variant region from December 25 in Austria. Everyone travelling from the UK needs to quarantine for 10 days. Except: People who are fully vaccinated AND have received the booster can enter Austria with a negative PCR test.”
The UK, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands will be added to Austria’s virus variant list from December 25.
There were already ten countries on Austria’s virus variant risk list due to the spread of the Omicron variant, all located in southern Africa. They are: Angola, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The UK will be classified as a virus variant region from 25 Dec in Austria. Everyone travelling from the UK needs to quarantine for 10 days. Except: People who are fully vaccinated AND have received the booster can enter Austria with a negative PCR test. ⁰https://t.co/1KV7MgGktL
— Austria_UK (@Austria_UK) December 22, 2021
There were eight flights due to fly from the UK to Austria, equating to 1,434 seats, on December 25, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Four of these flights are to Innsbruck, two are to Salzburg and a further two to Vienna.
In the seven days from December 25 December 31, there are 134 flights between the UK and Austria scheduled, equating to 23,795 seats. Of those, 54 are bound for Vienna, 44 for Innsbruck and 36 for Salzburg.
British Airways has the most flights between the two countries, with 28 scheduled services that week.