How Scotland and England plan to resume travel, camping and day trips

The English and Scottish Governments have announced their roadmaps out of the COVID-19 lockdown, including the dates when international travel, camping and day trips will hopefully resume.

Scotland’s almost nationwide “stay at home” order will be lifted on 2 April, and domestic tourism will be permitted from 26 April. At that point, shops, museums, galleries, hotels and B&Bs will be permitted to re-open. Pubs and restaurants that are able to serve food and drink outdoors will also re-open on that date, according to the country’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon.

Mainland travel restrictions lifted on 26 April will allow free travel, with restrictions on traveling to other parts of the UK and Ireland expected to be lifted at the same time or soon afterwards. Those hoping to travel abroad will need to wait a little longer as international travel will not resume until after 17 May.

For England, it is hoped that the ‘stay at home’ order will be lifted from 29 March. Travel outside the local area will also be permitted, although day trips will still be discouraged. The latter are expected to be permitted under Stage Two of the roadmap, and self-contained vacation accommodation, such as holiday lets and campsites, could re-open from 12 April. Like Scotland, UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, has indicated that international travel may resume from 17 May, with a travel taskforce setting out plans for this potential resumption on 12 April.

For those favoring staycations, the government is also looking to 17 May as the date that English travelers may be permitted to stay in hotels, hostels and B&Bs. Cinemas and museums are also expected to reopen on that date, although social distancing measures are likely to remain in place.

Both countries have warned these indicative dates are not fixed and are dependent on the rates of infection in the countries and progress of the vaccine roll-out. Up-to-date information can be found on the British Government’s website here and the Scottish Government’s website here.

Source: https://bit.ly/3dh0aP7