The UK has put a temporary ban on travellers from Europe (including returning British citizens) bringing meat and dairy products into the country.

The restrictions came in on 12 April in response to the uptick in cases of foot-and-mouth disease on the continent.

Visitors in possession of banned items will have to surrender them at the border or have them seized and destroyed.

Travellers arriving from an EU or EFTA country (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein) currently cannot bring meat from cattle, sheep, pigs or goats, or dairy produce into the UK for personal consumption.

The ban includes sandwiches, cheeses, cured meats and raw meats, according to the new ruling from the British government.

Even products which are packed or packaged, or have been purchased at duty free are off limits.

Travellers found in possession of these items risk fines of up to £5,000 (€5,845) in the most serious cases.

The restrictions only apply to visitors arriving in Great Britain – but not in Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man.

Some products are exempt from the ban. Travellers can bring in a limited amount of infant formula milk, medical foods, and some items such as chocolate, confectionery, bread, cakes, biscuits and pasta.

Why has the UK banned visitors from bringing in meat?

The UK currently remains free of foot-and-mouth disease, so the measure hopes to prevent the spread from European countries.

The British government has also banned imports of cattle, sheep, other ruminants, pig meat and dairy products from Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria.

Foot-and-mouth disease is highly contagious and can be fatal to cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle, sheep and pigs.

The disease does not pose a health risk to humans, and meat and milk from infected livestock are considered safe to consume.

“This government will do whatever it takes to protect British farmers from foot-and-mouth,” the UK’s farming minister Daniel Zeichner said.

“That is why we are further strengthening protections by introducing restrictions on personal meat and dairy imports to prevent the spread of the disease and protect Britain’s food security.”

Travellers in Europe this Easter weekend are being urged to check for delays or cancellations with strikes expected in several holiday hotspots.

This Easter weekend is expected to be especially busy with 11,282 flights scheduled to depart from UK airports alone, according to analytics firm Cirium.

Travellers are advised to check their flight and booking status regularly as negotiations are still ongoing in many cases, and strikes could be called off last minute.

UK: Gatwick airport workers to strike

The Unite union announced earlier this month that there would be strike action at Gatwick Airport – the UK’s second busiest airport – starting on Good Friday 18 April and ending in the early hours of the morning on 22 April.

This includes baggage handlers, check-in staff and flight dispatchers for airlines including Norwegian, Delta, TAP and Air Peace. The union says it expects the industrial action to impact around 50 flights a day, with long queues and delays at check-in counters.

The company at the heart of this dispute, Red Handling, said this week that it is confident it will find a resolution and that contingency plans will be in place over the busy Easter period.

Spain: Hotel workers to walk out in Tenerife

A planned strike by hotel industry workers will go ahead in Tenerife on 17 and 18 April.

The walkout was planned across the Canary Islands, but an agreement was reached to suspend the strike on the neighbouring islands of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

Workers in Tenerife, however, say that their employers have not been as willing to listen to their demands. Unions say they are still open to last-minute negotiations, which would avoid the strikes.

The Canary Islands Department of Tourism and Employment has set minimum service levels for the hospitality industry over the Easter Weekend. It would mean some basic services, such as reception and concierge or cleaning, restaurants and cooking, still have to go ahead even if a walkout happens.

The CCOO union, which called the strike, however, insists that the hospitality industry is not an essential service and has said these minimum services will not be met by the strike committee.

“The imposition of minimum services constitutes an illegitimate, disproportionate, and legally unsustainable restriction on the fundamental right to strike,” CCOO stated in a press release.

France: Train strike could be called with 48 hours notice

Members of the Sud Rail union have issued a six-week strike notice between 17 April and 2 June. Though no dates have been confirmed, a strike could take place with as little as 48 hours notice.

This will only affect train controllers working for national operator SCNF, but could mean some services are delayed or cancelled during the action.

Venice’s daytripper tax is relaunching this week, and the fee has doubled to €10 for last-minute visitors.

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro stressed that the tax aims to help the city and its citizens battle overtourism and avoid huge influxes of visitors during crowded holidays and weekends.

The payment system was launched last year for a time-limited pilot program.

Venice introduced the long-discussed daytripper fee after the city narrowly escaped being placed on the UN’s list of endangered heritage sites, due largely to the impact of overtourism.

Visitors staying overnight in the historic centre are exempt from the charge as they already pay a tourist tax.

How does Venice’s entry fee work?

The new tax will be applied every Friday through Sunday and on holidays from 18 April to 27 July, for a total of 54 days.

That’s almost double the number of days it was in place last year. Tourists who don’t make reservations up to four days in advance will pay €10 instead of the usual €5.

The tax will be in force during peak hours, from 8.30 am to 4 pm.

Anyone found beyond designated control points without the required documentation will be subject to fines.

These will range from €50 to €300, plus the maximum entrance fee allowed by law, set at €10.

Officials have emphasised that the programme aims to reduce crowds on peak days, encourage longer visits and improve the quality of life for residents.

The fee is not required for anyone staying in Venice, including the mainland districts of Marghera and Mestre. Venice’s islands, including glass-making Murano, are also outside the program.

Exemptions are also issued for a variety of reasons, including to access the city for work, school or medical care, as well as to people born in Venice and residents of the Veneto region.

How can I book my ticket for Venice?

Visitors can ‘reserve’ their day in Venice on a dedicated platform.

Daytrippers pay the required fee (€5 or €10) and get a QR code that will then be checked at spot controls at seven access points around the city, including at the main train station.

Visitors with hotel reservations enter their hotel information and also get a QR code to show. They don’t have to pay, however, since their hotel bill will already include a Venice lodging fee.

Why has Venice introduced an entry fee?

Venice has long suffered under the pressure of overtourism, but officials say pre-pandemic estimates ranging from 25 to 30 million visitors a year – including daytrippers – are not reliable and that the pilot project also aimed to come up with more exact figures to help better manage the phenomenon.

By contrast, registered visitors spending the night last year numbered 4.6 million, according to city figures, down 16 per cent from pre-pandemic highs.

The pandemic delayed Venice’s plans to launch the daytripper tax, which has become a keystone of the city’s attempts to deal with overtourism.

UNESCO cited the plan when it decided not to include the city on the list of endangered world heritage sites last September, a tarnish that it similarly avoided two years earlier with the cruise ship ban through St. Mark’s Basin and the Giudecca Canal.

Cruise ships brought 1.6 million people to Venice in 2019.

Activists sounded a warning last summer when the number of tourist beds officially overtook the number of residents, which has dwindled to under 50,000 in a trend dating back decades.

They said the imbalance drains the city of services, clogging its tight alleyways and water buses with suitcase-toting tourists and pushing residents to the mainland with its conveniences.

Was the trial of the entry fee a success?

At the end of the first test phase last July, officials said the tax had netted €2.4 million, accounting for about 1,000 entrances on each of the test days.

Brugnaro responded to critics who have called it a failure and said it did not deter as many arrivals as expected.

“Venice is the first city in the world that tries to manage the problem of overtourism. We obtained important results,” the mayor said.

But some citizens’ groups and opposition councillors claim the access fee completely failed to control overtourism.

“Data offered by the control room show that on average during the period of implementation of the fee, we had about 7,000 more tourist entries than in previous years,” said Giovanni Andrea Martini, an opposition councillor.

“This shows that the access fee is not at all a system able to manage the flows.”