简体中文
02:11
Passengers have been showing a mix of fear and delight at the UK's Gatwick Airport after the government revealed it was lifting quarantine rules for people entering the country.
In an important boost for the travel industry that has been hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak, passengers from many countries will be able to enter the UK. It will encourage British people to take holidays this summer from the UK knowing that they will not face restrictions on their return.
Passengers from more than 59 countries and territories will now not face mandatory self-isolation for 14 days upon entry.
Going on holiday this year will be memorable – but not for the usual reasons and some travelers are worried about what provisions are in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
"I'm stressed, confused and anxious. I don't know what to expect when I get there," one passenger bound for Istanbul, Turkey told CGTN.
That view was mirrored by two other passengers heading to Turkey.
"It does feel really weird because there's hardly anyone here. You've got to wear a mask…. there's no-one to talk to to ask anything. So it's just a bit confusing and scary," one said.
Gatwick, to the south of London, is the UK's second-busiest airport by passenger numbers. Now masks are mandatory and hand hygiene, and screens along with social distancing are part of daily routine at the travel hub. And good luck finding a coffee or a hot meal - the only places to buy food are a drug store and newsagents.
It's been nearly four months since all but essential overseas travel came to a halt here. But now the drawbridge has been lowered. People arriving in England from nearly 60 countries deemed low risk no longer have to quarantine for 14 days. They include holiday favourites France, Italy, Spain and Greece.
"I'm delighted, absolutely delighted," one British passenger arriving back from the Spanish city of Malaga said. "It means that I can travel and still come home, carry on going to work. It's just less restriction and I just hope it lasts."
Passengers arriving at UK airports will no longer need to go into quarantine for two weeks. /Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP
Another passenger said: "It was quite surprising the amount of information we were given as we arrived back, on an online form. I'm quite used to using a phone to do that sort of thing but for someone not used to it it's quite difficult and long-winded."
One traveler pointed out: "Actually it's been easy because there's no one here so it's been quite good."
While the UK has lifted restrictions on dozens of so-called travel corridor countries, each of those countries has their own arrival rules. Some, like Austria, require people coming from the UK to have a recent health certificate. Others, like Cyprus and New Zealand are allowing no travelers from the UK.
"Apparently there's two weeks quarantine when you get to Turkey but I don't know. It's so confusing. Some people say there's quarantine and some say there isn't," said a passenger heading to Istanbul.
Gatwick would usually be bustling with travelers at this time of year. In June, 2019, 2.2 million passengers used the airport, but last month it was just 11,000.
By August the airport hopes to see up to 400 flights a day, normally it would be 900.
The lifting of the blanket quarantine is undoubtedly a game changer for airports and airlines here.
"Having many of our passengers be able to go abroad on holiday or visit friends and then come back and not have to quarantine is very important to stimulate demand. About 75 percent of the destinations that we'd normally fly to are now open for our passengers to go to and from without the need to quarantine so it's a really important day for us," Stewart Wingate, Gatwick's CEO told CGTN.
But passenger confidence could take a long time to take off again – and the profound challenges of Covid-19 continue to cloud the horizon.
**Check out **
The Pandemic Playbook
, CGTN Europe's major investigation into the lessons learned from COVID-19.
