Travellers in Egypt and Bahrain are racing to get back to Britain to avoid hotel quarantine after the two countries were added to the UK’s red list.
From 4am on Tuesday, anyone coming from either Egypt or Bahrain, as well as five other countries - Afghanistan, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Trinidad & Tobago – will be required to pay £1,750 ($2,471) to quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days.
The decision was announced alongside the removal of Portugal from the green list on to the amber list.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the moves followed rising concern about imported cases of coronavirus.
Soliman Travel, which has been providing Egyptian travel services in the UK for 40 years, said airlines added more seats as people scrambled to get back to the UK before the deadline.
"In a matter of minutes they all seem to have sold out," a spokesman told The National.
“There's a lot of people there now trying to change their tickets. Everybody is disappointed but it is what it is.”
He said “morale is very low” in the travel sector after the UK tightened travel restrictions just weeks after lifting the ban on international trips.
“As a company you struggle to survive. This is the last nail in the coffin for Egyptian specialists,” he said.
Egypt was previously on the amber list, meaning travellers are required to stay at home for 10 days and take several Covid-19 tests on their return.
Hafsa Halawa, who is among those trying to return to the UK from Egypt, said she was angered by Mr Shapps’s decision.
“You’ve effectively left me stranded in Cairo,” she said on Twitter.
“Even worse, my father, who needs to travel in July for medical reasons, is also now stuck.”
Emma Dawes said she was in a “frantic scramble” to return to the UK.
“Frantic scramble to book flights home with costs escalating and the requirements for a PCR adding a whole new layer of complexity,” she said on Twitter.
Humayun Ahmed, a teacher based in the UK, also complained on Twitter about the difficulty of returning to Britain.
According to Skyscanner, a one-way direct flight between Cairo and London with EgyptAir on Saturday costs £532. The price of the same flight falls to £370 on Wednesday, after the red list change takes effect.
A one-way flight between Bahrain and London with GulfAir on Saturday costs £637, falling to £356 on Wednesday.
Gavin Harris, Skyscanner's commercial director, said prices were still likely to be lower than before the pandemic.
"What happens is that there is a short period of time for pricing to adjust to new demand levels, and then they usually return to close to what they were before the announcement," he said.
"At the moment, prices are generally very low compared to the last 'normal' year for travel which was 2019, so any temporary rises in price are likely still cheaper. What we expect to see is that travel providers will move capacity to serve more popular routes to compete for bookings with continued low prices."
The Bahrain Embassy in London promoted the country’s inoculation drive and testing capacity just days before the red list decision.
UK authorities said the decision to place countries on the red list was based on a combination of testing capacity, risk of Covid-19 variants and distribution of vaccines.
Mr Shapps said the UK was taking a “safety first” approach to protect the UK’s vaccine drive.
“The public has always known travel will be different this year and we must continue to take a cautious approach to reopening international travel in a way that protects public health and the vaccine roll out,” he said.
“While we are making great progress in the UK with the vaccine roll out, we continue to say that the public should not travel to destinations outside the green list.”
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Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
