After Great Britain declared France a risk country, numerous tourists tried to get home as quickly as possible. Which wasn't that easy.
- The British government has declared France a risk area.
- Tourists had to travel home as quickly as possible, otherwise they were threatened with a 14-day quarantine .
- That led to chaos at airports and train stations.
London - Last Friday there was a state of emergency in France . But not with the French themselves, but with several thousand British tourists who were just touring the country. The reason for the tohuwabohu was a decision by the British government, which France declared a risk area on Thursday evening . The decision meant that vacationers only had one day to return home, otherwise they had to be quarantined for 14 days after returning .
Corona chaos: Numerous British people are trying to get tickets for trains and planes
Around 160,000 British tourists were in France for their holidays at the end of last week when the British government passed the decision . Anyone who was not back home by 4 a.m. on Saturday morning had to be quarantined . No consideration was given to a shortened vacation or a possible loss of earnings if, for example, people could not work from home, the world reports . This led to the fact that tons of tourists romped to the train stations and airports on Friday to get a ticket back home.
Our trains to the UK are very busy today. To ensure we're able to help you get home if you need to, please only come to the station if you have a valid ticket for travel today.
- Eurostar (@Eurostar) August 14, 2020For example, 12,000 Eurostar train tickets were booked on that day, whereas otherwise there are only a few hundred a day. But plane tickets were also in great demand. That is why a boarding pass from Paris to London cost just under 500 euros on Friday evening . Normal price for the tickets: 72 euros. And the ferry companies also increased their prices sharply.
Corona chaos: Many Brits were looking for creative ways to get home
As reported by the British media, some compatriots came up with creative ways to return home. Some tourists probably asked truck drivers if they could come along. Others even rented bicycles. A group of musicians went on a fishing boat. They reached British soil ten minutes before the deadline. But there were also tragic incidents. A woman and her disabled son did not make it back to the last train in time. Now she and her boy have to be in quarantine and she doesn't know how to explain that to him.
Transport Minister Grant Shapps defended the measures on British television . You would only have a limited period of time to keep the corona pandemic * in check. Meanwhile, the French tourism industry is worried about missing guests from the kingdom. Many tourists might not start their trip now. For the British tourism industry, too, after the long restrictions of the months before, this was a severe blow. (tel) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital network.
Other countries in Europe such as Italy, Croatia and Austria are also struggling with the corona virus. The Robert Koch Institute has therefore published an overview in which all risk areas are entered.
List of rubric lists: © dpa / Kirsty O'connor
