Turkey is prepared to accept UK travellers this summer as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic permits international travel from Britain.
No vaccine certificate will be required and the current PCR test proof for British citizens to enter Turkey will be reviewed on April 15.
The disclosure came as it emerged that Portugal is expected to be removed from the ‘red list’ of 33 countries from which all travel from the UK is banned due to the risk from new Covid-19 variants.
Meanwhile, the Balearic Islands reduced the Covid-19 alert level after a “positive evolution of the pandemic in recent weeks”.
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Foreign holidays are currently banned from the UK until May 17 at the earliest as part of the government’s Covid-19 roadmap
Turkey, which attracted 2.5 million British tourists a year before the pandemic is taking necessary steps to ensure it continues to be safe.
A priority vaccination programme for staff at hotels and other tourist facilities is set for the upcoming summer season.
Culture and tourism minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said: “We are looking forward to welcoming British tourists with open arms, as we did safely last summer.
“We have world-class border processes in place for ensuring travel will be low-risk throughout Turkey.
“We are working with the British authorities to ensure these necessary processes are world-class and as up-to-date as possible.
“We will not require vaccination passports from international travellers when entering the country.”
Ersoy added that “After April 15, we will look at the number of cases again, we will re-evaluate the situation and then decide if we will continue to require negative PCR test results from British citizens 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 program for the whole nation and a significant portion of the population will be vaccinated by early summer.”
He continued: “To ensure our visitors can enjoy a safe and healthy holiday at all stages of their trip, we will continue to invest in the ‘Safe Tourism Certification Program’ which we launched in 2020.
“We have expanded the scope this year and made it compulsory for hotels and other accommodation facilities with 30 rooms or more. More than 8,000 facilities have been certified so far.”
All hotels certified under the tourism certification scheme provide testing facilities for tourists so they can obtain test results, if needed, before departing Turkey for the UK or elsewhere.
Tests cost approximately €30 and are also available to be carried out at the country’s international airports.
Tourists visiting Turkey are also offered a special insurance package, from €15, which covers Covid-19 related expenses such as treatment, medication and emergency care costs that may be incurred if visitors are taken to a state-owned or private pandemic hospital during their stay in Turkey.
The Covid-19 Accommodation Support Insurance also guarantees to cover any extra accommodation expenses that may be necessary during the trip, following the issuance of a medical report requiring them to be kept under supervision in a hotel.
Ersoy said: “We are confident that the successful vaccination programmes ongoing in both the UK and Turkey will ensure this season is even safer than last year. More than 10 million vaccinations have been given in Turkey so far.”
- Kerry Golds, managing director of A&K and Cox & Kings, said: “Turkey has always been popular with our touring clients, and we expect this news to generate further interest.
“The Aegean region is a rich, cultural hot spot with a treasure trove of sites unmatched almost anywhere in the world.”
Cox & Kings has launched a new range of European ‘Spotlight Tours’, including Spotlight on Aegean Turkey.
“These holidays explore lesser-visited facets of well-known destinations, offering various culturally immersive activities based in a single location,” Golds added.
More: British travellers cautious about paying for Covid PCR tests
Bookings rise for summer peak as confidence grows
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