UK removes SA from travel red list

This comes after months of anger and frustration by the South African government and tourism bodies about the negative impact the travel restrictions were having on the South African economy.

Picture: Pixabay.com

Janice Healing | 07 October 2021 16:42

JOHANNESBURG - In a long-awaited move, South Africa has been removed from the UK travel red list, along with 46 other countries.

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps made the announcement on Thursday after months of anger and frustration by the South African government and tourism bodies about the negative impact the travel restrictions were having on the South African economy.

Shapps stated that from Monday 11 October, the UK would be cutting 47 destinations from its red list, including South Africa, with just seven countries and territories remaining.

UPDATE: From Monday (11th Oct) 📅 I’ll be cutting 47 destinations from our red list – including South Africa, with just 7 countries and territories remaining ⚠️ - all others will be included in the “rest of world” category 🌐 [1/3]
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) October 7, 2021

As of 11 October, the UK will also recognise South Africa's vaccine certificates.

CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa said this was exciting news.

“We have been doing some work as the private sector, together with the public sector, and we saw that when the president gave the COVID-19 update, he talked about the fact that he called the UK prime minister. So, this is the results of hard work for many people.”

In August, the UK government received a petition with thousands of signatures calling for the travel ban to be lifted.

But it refused to remove South Africa from its red list countries, saying it couldn’t risk that country's efforts against COVID-19.

On 1 October, President Ramaphosa announced that he put South Africa’s case about the red list to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, confirming our country would be rolling out vaccination certificates soon.