We’ve had traffic light systems, mandatory fit to fly and PCR tests, self isolation rules and costly and compulsory hotel quarantines. It’s safe to say that over the past few months and years, one of our favourite things to do, travel, hasn’t been easy. At some points it’s not even been possible! This has been a sad state of affairs for all travel companies like ours, airport parking. We definitely had quiet times when the travel restrictions were at their strictest, but fortunately travel has been picking up more and more over the last few months as more countries start opening their borders to us.
We also have some more good, actually great news! These travel restrictions and guidelines are being amended again on Monday 4th October, and this time they’re;
- More simple
- Not as strict
- Cheaper!
This is really exciting for the airlines, travel companies, the airports themselves, us as an airport parking business, and yourselves as the people wanting to travel and go on holiday to lands afar (or further than the UK anyway!).
The changes look positive, and although we advise everyone to listen to the full announcement on Monday, we want to give you a quick summary of what we can (hope!) to expect!
Goodbye to the traffic light system
We have had so many of our airport parking customers enquire about what list (green, amber or red) their destination is on. It’s often been a tricky task, as it’s been changing too!
However, from the 4th October 2021, there will simply be one red list which is home to all the countries that are still suffering badly with Covid 19, and are a risk to the UK if masses travel to / from them.
On this list of 54 countries there’s much of South America, most of central and Southern Africa including South Africa itself, Thailand, Peru, Mayanmar, The Philippines, Afghanistan and more.
Then, there’s the ‘rest of the world’ list, which is basically all the rest of the countries in the World that we can (from the 4th October) travel to more easily.
It’s even better news for the fully vaccinated too, with quarantine, self-isolation, pre-departure and day 8 arrival tests all being scrapped for them.
There are rules to being fully vaccinated such as travelling at least 14 days after vaccination and having approved vaccines only, so ensure that you check that you definitely qualify for fully vaccinated before you book.
For the partially or unvaccinated, although you might still have to self isolate and have a negative PCR test before and after travel, the tests will be said to be a little cheaper, with chances to also have a test to release afterwards.
Remember, just because the UK government says we can now travel to another country, that country might not want to accept us yet. It’s super important to check both our government, and your destination’s rules before flying.
At Maple we are excited about these changes and we are ready to start parking more and more of our customers at the airports again. We are still running our long and short stay parking, meet and greet parking at all UK airports including Stansted, Gatwick, Heathrow and Birmingham airports. We will also be maintaining our covid safe measures like extra cleanliness and social distancing as much as possible, as well as keeping our more flexible way of booking (if things do change again).
We look forward to seeing you all again soon!
To book head to our website, email us bookings@mapleparking.co.uk at or call us on 03 333 222 333