Updated Travel Restrictions

Here is the link to the Scottish Government's page regarding COVID restrictions and the probable timetable for easing restrictions. Scottish Govt

And here is the page relating to international travel into Scotland. International Travel

The Scottish Government guidance will be updated as the situation develops.

The U.K. government is suggesting that summer holidays abroad for us will be made illegal, which means that tourists won’t be coming to the U.K. either.

Thank you very much for all these extremely helpful links! I will definitely be watching the sites until it is safe to travel again.

As much as we don't want to admit it, travel abroad will most likely not happen until June 2022. With only, 17-20% of the population vaccinated in the US thus far and Europe further behind, it is unrealistic to think any European travel in 2021 will take place. :(

Vaccination pace has to pick up in the future, it eventually will. How fast, and with what momentum, and exactly when, remains to be seen. With a fall trip hinging on it, I’m still counting on a vast improvement by end of summer, but that will require lots of changes in the meantime.

But with travel “illegal,” flights must be pretty much completely grounded - piloting a commercial airliner would be a criminal act.

I don't see why at this point any country would restrict people who can show they have been effectively vaccinated from traveling. The science is now showing that vaccinations prevent infection in the mid to high 90% range, and the few infections that vaccinated people are subject to tend to be asymptomatic or mild.

It appears that many places, including within France and Italy, are currently trying to get a handle on infections within their own countries. Many are on lockdown, with locals unable to travel great distances from their homes, and so adding foreigners to the mix is more than they can manage.

As for Scotland, the OP’s link indicates that it will be May 17, 2021, before the next decision will even be announced regarding possible travel loosening, and loosening might not wind up being the decision, even then.

….and....not everyone in the country you want to go to wants to be vaccinated. It's not mandatory!

Not all the vaccinations give the same level of protection against the variants. Most people in the U.K. have had the AstraZeneca jab and it’s thought that this doesn’t give any protection against the South African variant. That’s why our government doesn’t want us travelling abroad or foreign tourists coming here. If that takes hold, much of our vaccination programme will have been pointless.

It’s not known if vaccinated people can still transmit Covid.

As of today, we will be fined £5,000 if we go abroad.

At least from a US perspective, this is all a horrible mess. Although I've been vaccinated, as have most of my friends (we're all older), there are issues:

1) The US has made no steps to identify those vaccinated beyond the paper ID card, which is trivially forged. At least the EU is thinking about it.
2) A large percentages of the population doesn't believe in the virus or thinks it's not a risk. Judging by the lockdown protests in Europe, the attitude is common.
3) The percentage of mask wearers is dropping as the vaccinated join the non-believers. It's probably too bad Bill Gates didn't include a chip in the vaccine.
4) The ability of humans to defer gratification will lead to persistent waves of infection, each wave spawning new variants until eventually the vaccines are no longer effective or the mortality rises. This only ends when the mortality rate increases enough to cull the scofflaws or we adjust to the high infection and death rate.

I had planned a 2 1/2 week trip to Scotland for this June, but now I'm concerned June 2022 will even work. Although I like looking at standing stones and old castles as much as most, a trip to Scotland without pub music and ceilidhs would not be a trip I'd care to take.

Sorry if I'm a little pessimistic...hopefully the rest of the world can do better than we Americans.

I booked flights late last week for me and my husband to depart on August 21. (We were originally due to travel to Scotland in May 2020.) I believed--naively, I guess--that by mid- to late August, the U.K./Scotland might be allowing U.S. visitors with proof of vaccination. (I was able to purchase tickets for the tattoo, which seemed a hopeful sign.)

I am still going to hold out hope, but it doesn't seem this is a popular view here. With all the travel experience represented in this forum, it's sobering. Does anyone think travel is likely to resume by August 2021?

Avogan...experience means nothing with Covid. Situations change daily and no one can predict what will happen in five months. If all you look at is today, then your trip will not take place.

But basing what will be in five months by looking at what is happening today, makes no sense. Compare the rates of Covid two months ago in the U.S. to today. It's dropped drastically.

I would suggest being patient.