'Back in business' – what have the headline writers been smoking?

Simon Calder’s Travel Week [View in browser]( [The Independent]( [Travel] Simon Calder’s Travel Week [Simon Calder]( Written by Simon Calder | July 30, 2021 “Britain's back in business," yelled the front page of Thursday's Daily Mail. "In a major shot in the arm for domestic tourism," the paper reported, "quarantine rules will be lifted for fully vaccinated visitors from the United States and Europe." Across at the Daily Express, there was equal jubilation, with the promise of "a £31bn boost last night after travel rules were eased". I imagine the government insiders who spun those yarns were well pleased. Yet as they presumably know, the reality behind [Wednesday's announcement that the UK will belatedly recognise EU and US vaccines]( is rather different. It is best summed up as: "Ban on incoming tourists to be lifted in August." All that changes at 4am on Monday, 2 August, is that the bizarre practice of quarantining people with non-UK jabs will end. Pot of gold? The Old Vic theatre in London, from which almost all overseas tourists have been vanquished If I fly from Malaga to Manchester this weekend, on arrival my NHS vaccinations mean I can swerve self-isolation. But the person in the next seat who has equally beneficial AstraZeneca or Pfizer jab administered in Spain must go and sit "in a well-ventilated room with an outside window" for 10 days. Almost six months after t[he first European nations eased travel restrictions for British visitors who have been fully vaccinated](, the UK is finally to end yet another example of unwarranted exceptionalism. Foreign vaccines, it turns out, are just as good as ours. The front pages project the fanciful notion that Americans and Europeans have been waiting patiently for us to deign to recognise their jabs. Finally, having declined to arrange any other summer holidays in the hope that the UK will belatedly open up, they will obediently flock in to fill the empty planes and trains as well as the hotel rooms and tourist attractions in London, Edinburgh and Stratford-upon-Avon – where last year [Mary Arden's Farm saw a collapse of 99 per cent in visitor numbers](. Chicken feed: an actor at Mary Arden's Farm near Stratford-upon-Avon, where visitor numbers have fallen 99% Whatever the headline writers have been smoking, I recommend they sit in that well-ventilated room for a while. On 8 July, the UK government was apparently content to write off any prospects of rescuing the inbound tourism industry by refusing to countenance foreign-administered vaccinations. The change of heart has come too late for any meaningful influx of visitors on holiday. But the belated easing of rules for people vaccinated overseas will have one profoundly important effect: allowing families and partners to reconnect. Destination of the week: Imber, Wiltshire Room on top: Routemaster bus on Salisbury Plain/Simon Burn/imbervillage.co.uk In the autumn of 1943, residents of the Wiltshire village of Imber were given seven weeks' notice of eviction. Their homes on Salisbury Plain were taken over by the War Department to be used as a training ground for American troops ahead of D-Day. While they were promised the chance to return after the war, the village was retained as a training ground for urban warfare. The ghostly village is open to visitors only on a few days each year – of which Saturday 21 August 2021 is easily the most appealing. On that day, a shuttle operation of preserved London Transport Routemaster buses will run between Warminster railway station and the village, from 10am to 6pm. No need (or opportunity) to book in advance; just pay the conductor on board. The buses will also serve other historic attractions in the area. imberbus.org Deals of the week: Poland and the East Midlands - low-infection Poland can't be kept off the government's "green list" much longer? Besides allowing family connections to be restored, quarantine-free status will allow holidaymakers in search of cut-price sun to explore the Baltic Riviera – with the resort of Sopot near Gdansk in prime position. Buzz, the Polish subsidiary of Ryanair (through whom bookings are made) has a return flight from Birmingham to Gdansk on 7 August, returning a week later, for £87 return. - Megabus does trains as well as long-distance coaches, with marketing rights on the East Midlands Railway linking Sheffield and Leicester with London St Pancras International. Fares from Sheffield booking a week ahead are typically £20-£25 each way, even at peaks. A reasonable spread of departures is on offer. Next Thursday, for example, nine are available from 6.30am to 9.01pm. Question of the week: traffic light changes – when? Question: When is the next “traffic light” review and when will it take effect? Answer: It was supposed to be every third Thursday from 3 June onwards, but the Thursday 15 July announcement was made a day early. Usually ministers will brief friendly newspapers about when to expect it. I am keeping both Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 August clear just in case. Either way, I expect the changes to take place at 4am on the following Monday, 9 August. 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