Abu Dhabi will add a further eight countries, including the UK, to its list of ‘Green List’ countries as the emirate continues to relax travel restrictions amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) said the updated list of destinations will apply from Sunday.
Passengers arriving from these destinations will be exempt from mandatory quarantine measures after landing in Abu Dhabi and will only be required to undergo PCR testing upon arrival at Abu Dhabi Airport.
The new additions to the list include Cuba, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.
Countries, regions, and territories included within the ‘Green List’ are regularly updated based on international development and inclusion in the list is subject to strict criteria of health and safety to ensure the well-being of the UAE community, a DCT Abu Dhabi statement said.
The list also only applies to countries passengers are arriving from rather than citizenship, it added.
Other countries already on the list include Australia, Bhutan, Brunei, China, Greenland, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Mauritius, Morocco, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and South Korea.
While the UAE capital officially reopened to tourists on December 24 last year, strict coronavirus preventative measures remain in place to enter the emirate, including from neighbouring Dubai.
The inclusion of the UK comes just days after its Transport Secretary suggested the UAE could remain on the its red list for air travel indefinitely because Dubai and Abu Dhabi are key transit hubs.
Grant Shapps told an online ConservativeHome event that the UAE’s status as a global hub meant UK health authorities could not be certain about travellers’ origins.
Shapps was quoted by UK media as saying the problem was people connecting from other countries at Dubai airport, and to a lesser extent Abu Dhabi.
Robert Boyle, former strategy chief at British Airways and founder of GridPoint Consulting, also said in recent research that the UAE was likely to be given an amber rating in the UK’s traffic light system to reopen air travel for the same reason.
He said only eight countries may be declared as safe for foreign holidays abroad this summer while the UAE is likely to be classified as “amber” – meaning quarantine will be required – despite its successful vaccination programme.
Going abroad on holiday is currently illegal in England but rules are set to be relaxed from May 17 if the road map out of coronavirus lockdown continues on schedule.
Earlier this month, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised UK travellers not to book foreign holidays in a move that was a blow to the UAE tourism industry.
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