Namibia will remain on the United Kingdom’s (UK) ‘red list’, leaving in place restrictions for travel between the two countries.
This comes amid local media reports that the Namibia Travel and Tourism Forum had written an open letter to UK Prime minister, Boris Johnson prior to the latest announcement by UK’s Department for Transport and Health and Social Care, lobbying him to classify Namibia as a safe tourism destination.
The latest announcement cuts down the ‘red list’ of countries from 62 to 54 from Wednesday 22 September, with the Maldives, Turkey, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Oman, Kenya and Sri Lanka having been removed.
Namibia and South Africa remain on the list.
Under the UK’s travel rules, travellers who have been in a country or territory on the ‘red list’ in the last 10 days will only be allowed to enter the UK if they are British or Irish nationals or have residence rights in the UK.
These travellers are subject to rigorous Covid testing and have to quarantine at a designated hotel at their own cost. A 10-day package costs £2,285 for one adult (N$46,000), plus £1,430 for each person over 11. Children aged 5 to 11 will bump the total up by £325 each.
Breaking the rules could see people charged fines of up to €11,500 – or even face 10 years in prison, according to the UK government.
The department also announced that the UK will be doing away with its ‘traffic light’ system of red, amber and green countries, adopting a simpler system from 4 October. Under the new system, there will only be a red list of countries and a set of rules for the rest of the world to follow, based on their vaccination status.
Click link below to also read on what you need to know if you Namibian and planning to travel to the UK.
