All international travel restrictions to end on Friday for people coming to Scotland

All international travel restrictions for people coming to Scotland will end later this week.

The UK’s transport secretary Grant Shapps on Monday announced that all remaining travel measures will be scrapped.

Currently, anyone travelling to the UK must complete a passenger locator before they arrive.

But, from Friday, March 18, that requirement will be dropped, whilst people who are not fully vaccinated will also not have to take Covid tests before and after travelling to the UK.

The measures outlined by Shapps were agreed by the Scottish Government following engagement between all four nations.

However, concerns were raised by ministers in Scotland over a lack of border control measures and called for some form of border surveillance to be maintained by the UK Government.

Given the negative impact of non-alignment on the tourism industry, the Scottish Government explained, alignment was “reluctantly agreed” on a four nation basis.

People are being asked to continue checking the travel requirements in other countries before heading abroad.

Scotland’s transport secretary Michael Matheson indicated that people may still wish to keep observing “sensible measures” while travelling.

“These measures significantly open up international travel and were agreed on a UK wide basis despite the Scottish Government raising concerns over the lack of border controls,” he said.

“However, we recognise the benefits of acting on a four nation basis and this will bring a high degree of normality back to travel and is extremely welcome for Scottish tourism, the aviation sector and travellers alike.

“There will be continued surveillance by the UK Health Security Agency to monitor for developments of concern and a contingency toolkit is being progressed which will enable an agile and rapid response in future to any changes.

“This could include tailored restrictions where appropriate and people may wish to continue to observe sensible measures while travelling such as frequent hand washing and respecting social distancing.”