We want holiday Britons back in France by June, say tourist chiefs

France may not immediately be classed as a “green” country

(REUTERS)

Tourism bosses in France on Friday extended a heartfelt “Bienvenue en Provence” and other regions as UK ministers were preparing to fire the starting gun for foreign holidays.

France may not immediately be classed as a “green” country, which would require no quarantine on return to Britain, when ministers announce categories for the new “traffic light” system later today.

But French tourism bosses hope that by early to mid-June hundreds of thousands of visitors will be heading to their country from across the Channel. Lesly Reynaud, director of the Office de Tourisme Provence Occitane, told the Standard: “British tourists will be welcome in France and Provence. We are waiting for them with impatience... we love English tourists.”

Franck Delahaye, director of the Office de Tourisme Luberon Coeur de Provence, added: “We are ready to welcome you back this summer as soon as possible, and keen to share with you the wonders of our region.”

Their warm words contrasted with the angry scenes on Thursday as French fishermen protested off Jersey against a new post-Brexit licence system, watched by the Royal Navy and French patrol vessels.

“The British will be welcomed back from June 9 if they can provide proof of vaccination or a negative result for a recent PCR test,” a Tourism Ministry source in Paris told the Standard.

The number of new daily cases of Covid-19 averaged 28,000 last week, down from 36,000 the previous week.

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