The importance of being British

By | Category: Travel tips & opinions

In an interview on the Lyon based news channel, Euronews on Friday, Margaritis Schinas – Vice President of the EU Commission in charge of promoting the European way of Life – said that the EU should aim for the 17th of May for having the vaccination passport ready to go live.

family running on beach
Think positively. Summer holidays could be back and it might be easier to travel than we once thought!

Readers will recall that this date is the same date from which Britons can travel abroad.

Coincidence or not?

Not it isn’t.

When asked when the certificate would be ready, Schinas said, “Summer starts on the first of June, and we have another date, which is 17th of May, which is the date where our British friends have announced that they will resume international travel.”

In other words there is a strong desire to have Britons travelling into EU countries for summer holidays so the EU has decided that the date on which the British government allows us to travel abroad is the date on which they will have the certificate ready.

This desire is led by nations in southern Europe like Spain, Portugal, Malta and Greece along with Croatia, all countries where British tourists are a significant benefactor to tourist industries and economic growth. Losing British visitors for a second year would result in further job losses and a decline in economic growth.

Even the bureaucrats in Brussels are realising how important British tourists are so this could be good news for us as visitors. Maybe the queues and the checks going through passport control may not be as arduous and lengthy as we were led to believe.

Making life difficult for any visitors regardless of where they come from is likely to cause those visitors not to return. They will choose other more welcoming destinations.

It could be that both sides can bring about an easier method of travelling this summer – provided that third waves don’t spread within Europe.

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