Turkey expects to move from red to amber list in travel review this week
Turkey expects to come off the UK’s travel red list this week, according to the country’s UK embassy.
“The scientific data on Covid-19 support our expectation that Turkey will be removed from the red list at the upcoming review,” the embassy said in a statement to Sky News.
Reports suggest the holiday hotspot will be moved to the amber list in a travel review expected on Thursday. The move would allow double-jabbed Britons and all under 18s to travel without needing to quarantine in a hotel on return to the UK.
Turkey’s case numbers are now lower than those in the UK and its genomic sequencing has improved, its London embassy said.
The country also continues to progress with its vaccination programme, with more than half of adults now fully vaccinated, it added.
Turkey has been on the red list since May meaning travellers must spend 11 days in a quarantine hotel at a cost of more than £2,000 upon their return to the UK.
Just 1.7 per cent of those arriving into the UK from Turkey have tested positive for coronavirus in the last three weeks, according to NHS Test and Trace data. This figure is similar to that of Spain, which is already on the amber list.
“We expect the UK to take into account all these developments and remove Turkey from the red list this week,” the embassy added.
Travel expert Paul Charles, CEO of PC Agency, tweeted that it is “encouraging to see Turkey now supplying substantial data to GISAID about infections and any variants.”
GISAID figures show the UK leading the way in total number of genomes shared, at 78,179, followed by the US at 48,696 and Turkey at 33,278.
It also shows the country has reported more than 200,000 fewer cases of coronavirus than the UK in the last 30 days, despite having a much larger population.
Encouraging to see #Turkey now supplying substantial data to @GISAID about infections and any variants. Its case to be moved to amber in Thursday’s traffic light review is strong, especially in the context of India’s move from red to amber earlier this month. @ThePCAgency pic.twitter.com/7ul2GZuAej
— Paul Charles (@PPaulCharles) August 24, 2021
Turkey‘s tourist sector is pinning its hopes on Britain removing it from the travel red list to help it recover from the pandemic, a spate of wildfires, and Germany’s designation of Turkey as high risk.
Ulkay Atmaca, head of Turkey‘s Professional Hotel Managers Association, said with the fall in German bookings and the Scandinavian market remaining closed, the sector was looking to Britain, which sent more than 2.5 million visitors in 2019.
“We are eyeing the British market to open this week,” Atmaca said. “We expect a huge demand from the British market as it opens.”
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