With the new year also comes new travel rules, and 2025 is not going to be short of them.
With the introduction of the EU’s new Entry/Exit system, increased tourist taxes, the European Travel Information and Authorisation, there is a lot you need to know before booking a holiday for 2025. Here is a complete run-down of all the new travel rules impacting travellers in 2025.
Entry/Exit System (EES)
The new EES is an automated IT system for registering travelers from third countries, both short-stay visa holders and visa-exempt travelers, each time they cross an EU external border, and will be introduced in 2025. The new system will replace the manual method of stamping passports, “which is time consuming, does not provide reliable data on border crossings and does not allow a systematic detection of over-stayers”, according to the European Commission’s website.
For Brits, this will mean that those travelling to a country in the Schengen area using a UK passport will need to register their biometric details, such as fingerprints or a photo, when they first arrive. The subsequent times over the following three years you enter countries in the Schengen area you will need to provide your fingerprints and a photo at the border, when you enter and exit.
European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS)
The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is an entry requirement for visa-exempt nationals travelling to any of these 30 countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Certain overseas territories connected to ETIAS member countries also require this authorisation for short stays, such as the Canary Islands, in Spain, or the Azores in Portugal, in addition to Andorra, San Marino, Monaco and Vatican City. ETIAS will be linked to a traveller’s passport and will be valid for up to three years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first. It will allow travellers to enter any destination on the list above, as often as they want for short-term stays — normally for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Applying for the ETIAS travel authorisation costs €7 (£5.80).
Changes to Golden Visa Programmes in Greece & Spain
For British citizens considering the Golden Visa programmes in Greece and Spain, there are some changes coming up.
In Greece, there will be higher costs in some key areas. For example, if you’re planning to invest in popular cities or islands like Athens, Mykonos, or Santorini, you’ll now need a minimum of €800,000 (£663,064.11). In less popular regions, you can still qualify with a €400,000 (£331,457.47) investment, or even €250,000 (£207,207.54) for specific projects like restoring historic buildings.
In addition, you won’t be able to rent out properties for short-term stays like Airbnb and you’ll need to buy one property rather than splitting investments across multiple smaller ones. In Spain, after December 31, 2024, buying property won’t qualify you for a Golden Visa. However, you can still qualify through other means, such as starting a business, investing in government bonds, or making capital investments.
Tourist tax hikes
Greece: If visiting Greece between November and February, you will be expected to pay a daily tax of €2 (£1.66), an increase from 50 cents (£0.41). Visiting in high season will cost you more, with the fee raising to €8 (£6.63) daily between April and October — which is around an extra £46 per person for a week-long trip.
Portugal: The Azores will begin charging €2 (£1.66) per person per night from January 2025.
Thailand: Thailand’s travelling tax is expected to be introduced in the middle of 2025. It is anticipated that those who arrive by land will be expected to pay a one-off fee of 300 baht (approx. £6.90), and those who arrive by sea will pay 150 baht (approx. £3.45).
Paris, France: Paris has announced a set of new rules for tourist taxes in 2025 including a tourist tax and a regional tax which depend on your type of accommodation. For example, a five-star hotel will cost €11.38 (£9.42) per person per night, a four-star hotel will cost €8.45 (£7) per person per night and three-to-five-star campsites will cost €1.95 (£1.59) per person per night. Unclassified accommodation, or those awaiting classification will be five per cent of the cost per person per night, up to €15.60 (£12.93).
Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA)
An ETA gives you permission to travel to the UK.
Travellers do not need an ETA if they have a visa, have permission to live, work or study in the UK, are a British or Irish citizen, are travelling with a British overseas territories citizen passport or you live in Ireland and you are travelling from Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey or the Isle of Man.
Dual citizens with a British or Irish citizenship, also do not need an ETA.
With an ETA, travellers are permitted to come to the UK for up to six months for tourism, visiting family and friends, business or short-term study, come to the UK for up to three months on the Creative Worker visa concession, come to the UK for a permitted paid engagement or for transiting through the UK – including if you are not going through UK border control.
An ETA will cost £10 to apply and all eligible non-Europeans (for example, Australians) can now apply in advance and will need an ETA to travel from 8 January 2025. Eligible Europeans can apply from March 5, 2025 and will need an ETA to travel from 2 April 2025.
TSA ‘One Stop Security’ programme
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) ‘One-Stop Security’ programme will hope to eliminate the need for additional security screenings for some international travellers.
Currently, travellers heading on a US-bound flight with a connection have to go through security screenings a second time. This programme aims to allow passengers and their bags to pass through security without re-screening at transfer airports, if they and their bags have already been screened at the airport they originated from.
For travellers on connecting flights, the programme should help to reduced missed connections and missing bags, save time and resources by getting rid of duplicative processes, improve passenger experience and strengthen security systems.
The TSA will partner with up to six international airports to trial the programme, starting in 2025. For example, if you are heading from London to Boston, via New York JFK, you shouldn’t have to go through security a second time.
Air Passenger Duty rises
As announced in the Spring Budget, Air Passenger Duty (APD) — which is a tax on airlines and aircraft operators — will rise in 2025.
Gov.uk states: “The previous government announced APD rates for the year 2025 to 2026 at Spring Budget 2024 to give industry sufficient advance notice of changes. APD is one of a very small number of taxes where rates are set more than a year in advance, using forecast RPI.”
The rates for the tax year 2025 to 2026 will come into effect on or after April 1, 2025. The rates will be as follows, from 1 April 2025:
- The domestic band will be £7 for the reduced rate (lowest class of travel), £14 for the standard rate (other than the lowest class of travel) and £84 for the higher rate
- Band A, which is flights up to 2,000 miles from London, will be £13 for the reduced rate, £28 for the standard rate and £84 for the higher rate
- Band B, which is flights between 2,001 and 5,500 miles from London, will be £90 for the reduced rate, £216 for the standard rate and £647 for the higher rate
- Band C, which is for flights over 5,500 miles from London, will be £94 for the reduced rate, £224 for the standard rate and £673 for the higher rate
The increased APD rates will mean that air fares may increase. For individuals who travel in a non-economy class and by larger, more luxurious private jets, they may see a bigger increase. In addition, in the Autumn Budget it was announced that APD will rise again for the year 2026 to 2027.
Liquid rules
Liquid restrictions were due to be scrapped in the summer of 2024, however a u-turn meant all previous restrictions remained in place.The government previously set the deadline of June 2024 for all UK airports to install new scanners, but several airports – including London Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester Airport – faced delays.
As a result, former liquid restrictions were reinforced. This means that passengers can only carry 100ml liquids in their hand luggage — this includes all drinks, semi-liquid foods (such as soup, jam, honey and syrups), cosmetics, toiletries, creams, sprays, pastes, gels, contact lens solution and any other solutions and items of similar consistency.
Containers must hold no more than 100ml and must be in a single, transparent, resealable plastic bag, which holds no more than a litre and measures approximately 20cm by 20cm. The limit is one plastic bag per person.
There is currently no date set for when the rules around carry-on liquids will change. The Department for Transport stated at the time that the reintroduction of the previous liquid rules, that the decision was to “enable further improvements to be made to the new checkpoint systems”.
UK airport expansions
Several airports across the UK will be undergoing works in 2025, as they continue to introduce new systems such as 3D scanners or expand their terminals.
Bristol airport will be opening a new transport interchange in 2025. A £60 million investment will transform the current entrance to the airport into a smoother arrival and departure destination. The new facility will aim to enhance the airport’s public transport and car park offering.
Luton Airport is working on plans to increase its permitted cap of 18 million passengers per annum (mppa) up to 32 mppa. If approved, this will include new terminal capacity, additional taxiways and other transport infrastructure, the construction of landslide support buidlings, surface access adjustments, mitigation works and other associated development. As of December 17, the deadline for the decision has been extended by three months to April 3, 2025.
In August, London City Airport gained approval to increase its passenger numbers from 6.5 million per annum, to nine million per annum subject to conditions. However, the application to increase weekend operating hours was rejected.
Stansted Airport successfully gained a £1.1bn support plan in October 2024. Work is due to start in 2025 and is expected to last five years. Stansted owner Manchester Airports Group (MAG) confirmed that £600m will be spent on the extension of the terminal, where more seating areas and new shops, bars and restaurants will be added. There will also be an enlarged security hall to tackle waiting times, more check-in desks and a new baggage reclaim carousel.
Heathrow Airport has also recently gained £2.3 billion from a Saudi Arabia wealth fund — the biggest-ever capital investment in UK transport from the private sector. The money will go toward boosting efficiency at the airport across all terminals, through improving baggage systems, resurfacing the northern runway and having 140 advanced security scanners to enable more liquids to be carried onboard planes.
