Quirky Quote
As news broke of the UK banning flights from Brazil and satellite counties like Portugal and Cabo Verde, I read a brilliant quote from one of our friends on the island of Sal this morning who (like many) are struggling through this pandemic with the lack of tourism.
“It’s like the light at the end of the tunnel is just an oncoming train!”
Times are difficult for local citizens on the holiday island of Sal, including European entrepreneurial ex-pat communities and the big international hotel chains have found this pandemic challenging. Flights from Europe were banned from the Cabo Verdean authorities as the pandemic broke in March of 2020 and remained closed until the late summer. Direct flights from the UK via TUI seemed to have a rolling cancellation policy, although TAP flights from Lisbon seemed still to fly, delivering essential goods and cargo to the Atlantic Archipelago. There still remains no TAP flights from Lisbon to Sal.
Many thought that light was indeed at the end of the tunnel when UK flights reopened to Sal via Lisbon after Lockdown II with SATA Airlines. That was short lived when Portugal closed its borders to transferring UK passengers on 21st December 2020 due to the British Covid variant. To get to Sal today, logistically it’s a connecting flight via Lisbon on TAP only, to the island of São Vicente and an internal flight. However, with the UK presently in Lockdown III from 4th January 2021, no-one is going anywhere.
What's Going On?
From 04.00am on Friday 15th January 2021, passengers who have been in (or transited through) Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Cabo Verde, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Panama, Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores), Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela in the last 10 days will no longer be granted access to the UK.
This does not include British and Irish Nationals, or third country nationals with residence rights in the UK, who will be able to enter the UK but are required to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival along with their household.
There will also be a flight ban on any countries with direct flights to the UK. These are Argentina, Brazil, Cabo Verde and Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores). This excludes cargo and freight without passengers. The decision to ban travel from these destinations follows the discovery of a new coronavirus variant first identified in Brazil, that may have spread to countries with strong travel links to Brazil.
We'll Be Back Soom
We cannot be beholden to the vaccine rollout, but with a little luck maybe we can get back to the sunny islands in the summer. The problem is that international tourism is extremely fluid and with the UK Government’s ban this morning, everything is still volatile to consider any trip. Rest assured, we will be back soon.