US State Department Lightens Travel Advisories on the UK and Israel

The US State Department eased its travel advisories on both the UK and Israel. The UK and Israel will be reclassified to Level 3: Reconsider Travel and Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution respectively. The US initially included the UK and Israel in the list of countries that received the highest travel advisory classification. The US State Department included 80% of countries worldwide.

Both the UK and Israel made a huge leap in terms of their vaccination programs. On May 17, UK is looking to resume some international travel. As cautious as they can get, the UK only included 12 countries in its green list. If coming from a country on the green list, it means that British travelers will no longer have to quarantine when they return.

Israel announced last month that they are dropping the COVID mask order outdoors. That’s because 59.9% of Israelis received at least one dose of COVID vaccine while 56.2% completed their vaccine doses. In the UK, 27% are considered fully vaccinated while 53% received at least one dose of the vaccine.

US-UK Travel Corridor

Stakeholders in the US and UK travel industry are pushing for the resumption of US-UK travel. The US and UK officials are pressured to open a US-UK travel corridor that could make transatlantic travel easier for travelers. Stakeholders argue that this could make it easier for the travel industry to recover. Plus, now that many are fully vaccinated, risks are reduced. Currently, the US is part of the UK’s amber list. It means that UK travelers will have to complete quarantine once they go back to the UK.

For now, countries in the green list are reaping the benefits of a travel rebound. Portugal hotels experienced an increase in bookings in recent weeks. According to Katya Bauval, executive director of sales at the Vila Vita Park hotel in Algarve, she describes the booking requests as “absolute madness”.

As for Israel, though the US eased its travel advisory classification, United and Delta canceled flights to Tel Aviv after a violent conflict erupted between Israel and Hamas.