Portugal has confirmed it will allow UK travellers to enter the country from Monday, if they can show proof of a negative PCR coronavirus test.
The news will come as a relief to hundreds of holiday-makers whose plans had been in doubt after the country extended lockdown until the end of the month.
People snapped up flights and hotels after Portugal was the only major tourism destination put on the UK’s green list when travel restarts next week.
But the extension of the country’s ‘state of calamity’ sent panic-waves around tourists on Thursday as it included a ban on non-EU citizens entering the country.
Fans hoping to travel for the Champions League final in Porto on May 29 between English clubs Manchester City and Chelsea were among those watching the situation closely.
The country’s tourism board has now moved to clarify the rules. Visit Portugal said in a statement: ‘The Portuguese minister of state for foreign affairs announced today that British tourists will be allowed to enter Portugal as of the 00:00 of 17th of May, next Monday.
‘This decision will revoke the essential travel restrictions that is in place until the 16th of May.
‘Any person entering Portugal will have, in any case, to have an RT-PCR test done 72 hours before departure.’
Travel companies have been scrambling to keep up with demand after the green list was announced.
EasyJet has added 105,000 extra seats to its flights serving green tier destinations, while Tui plans to use aircraft which normally operate long-haul routes to accommodate the surge of people booked to fly to Portugal.
Reacting to the news, EasyJet said in a statement: ‘We welcome the decision from the Portuguese government meaning that those travelling from the UK will be allowed to travel safely to Portugal from Monday.
‘We look forward to reuniting friends and family and taking customers on a long-awaited holiday this summer.’
But the uncertainty over the last 24 hours will have dented the confidence of some thinking about booking trips later in the summer.
Simon Cooper, chief executive of online travel agent On the Beach said the situation ‘illustrates precisely why now is not the time to encourage new holiday bookings for this summer’.
His company stopped selling summer holidays on Wednesday due to a lack of ‘certainty or clarity’ in relation to travel rules.
Uefa has previously confirmed that 6,000 tickets would be made available to each club competing in the Champions League final, with the final capacity limit at the Estadio do Dragao still to be fixed.
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