Britons are likewise happy to welcome vaccinated visitors
With the summer beginning, a key objective for the government has been to secure convenient entry to neighbouring nations for vaccinated British holidaygoers. New rules came into force in Germany recently, allowing vaccinated British travellers to visit the country without having to quarantine first.
When we asked Europeans about the prospect of British tourists coming to visit in the summer of 2020, the message was clear: stay away. One year later, Europeans are much more welcoming of British tourists… assuming they’ve been vaccinated.
Most people in Germany (55%), Spain (55%), France (61%) and Italy (74%) support allowing at least vaccinated British tourists to come without having to quarantine on arrival. Indeed, these figures include 13-17% in each country who are happy for even unvaccinated British tourists to turn up.
Britons in turn are happy to receive vaccinated visitors, with 63-66% supporting allowing in at-least vaccinated tourists from these countries (including 10-11% who would be happy admitting unvaccinated tourists from these nations). This includes 63% who would welcome travellers from France, at odds with the recent government decision to require all French visitors to quarantine upon arrival.
Most would also welcome at least vaccinated US tourists (58%), although Britons are much more wary of Chinese travellers (45%, with 40% opposing all tourists from China regardless of vaccination status).
British wariness of tourists from China is mirrored in the other countries surveyed, all of which are more reluctant to admit Chinese travellers than tourists from Europe or America.
There is, however, a lot of variance within these results – although more worried about Chinese tourists than European and American tourists, Italians still support their entry by 66% to 25%, while in Spain their admittance is opposed by 50% to 44%. This could reflect the greater importance of Chinese travellers to the Italian economy: in 2018 Italy received 3.2 million Chinese tourists, about five times as many as Spain did.
