French minister of state for tourism, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, confirmed on Twitter that vaccinated UK travellers will be allowed into the country from Friday (14 January).
There will be no quarantine but UK visitors will still need to present a negative Covid-19 test result taken 24 hours before arrival.
“We are relaxing the entry conditions to France from the UK for vaccinated travellers,” announced Lemoyne. "End of compelling reasons and isolation on arrival, a negative test <24h will be requested at departure.
"The decree will be published tomorrow morning, with immediate entry into force."
France banned UK tourists from visiting the country last month due to the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Fully vaccinated travellers will be able to take a lateral flow test to meet France’s entry rules, as well as having to fill in an online screening form before departure. Unvaccinated holidaymakers will remain banned from France.
Holidaymakers to France are also being advised to check local vaccine passport rules, which are due to change on Saturday (15 July), for bars and other hospitality venues.
Christophe Mathieu, chief executive of Brittany Ferries, said: “This news comes as a great relief and I can only hope that we have seen the last border closure of the Covid crisis."
Train operator Eurostar added in a statement: “We welcome the safe reduction of travel restrictions which will allow our customers to travel more freely between the UK and France.
“We are ready to welcome more passengers on board and will continue to increase the frequency of our services in the coming weeks to offer passengers more flexibility and choice.”
While Julia Simpson, chief executive of WTTC, also welcomed the reopening of France’s borders to UK travellers.
“Once a variant is endemic closing borders is pointless and only damages livelihoods especially in travel and tourism one of the hardest hit sectors during the pandemic,” said Simpson.
“France is one of the biggest markets for UK tourists who, according to WTTC’s 2021 Economic Impact Report, account for 14% of overseas visitors. Total international visitor spend in France was worth more than €60 billion pre-pandemic.”
