Just four countries on green list will let UK tourists in without quarantining
Foreign holidays were finally given the go ahead yesterday, with 12 countries making the government’s much-anticipated green list.
Travellers from England will technically be able to visit Portugal, Israel, Gibraltar, Iceland, Australia and New Zealand from May 17.
The Faroe Islands, Brunei, Singapore and a number of overseas territories including the Falkland Islands and St Helena also feature.
But holidaymakers eager to book a flight should be aware that most countries on the list are still either banning tourists or imposing tough restrictions on visitors.
Only Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira, and Gibraltar will be open to tourists without the need to quarantine.
Although Iceland and Israel will not require visitors to isolate, they must be vaccinated.
Australia and New Zealand have closed their international borders to the vast majority of people, while Singapore has imposed a 21-day quarantine.
Those heading to the Faroe Islands will need to take a test when they arrive and then isolate for 10 days, although there is an option to release after four with a PCR test.
Visitors to Brunei will have to fork out £188 for a test and could face up to two weeks in quarantine.
The Falkland Islands have similarly imposed 14 days’ self-isolation for new arrivals.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the removal of the ban on international leisure travel was ‘necessarily cautious’.
He told a Downing Street press conference on Friday that the Government must ‘make absolutely sure’ the countries the UK reconnects with are safe.
Mr Shapps said: ‘We in this country have managed to construct a fortress against Covid. But the disease is still prevalent in other parts of the world, most notably at the moment in India.
‘In fact, more new cases of Covid have been diagnosed around the world in the last seven days than at any time since the pandemic began.’
He added: ‘That’s why today’s announcement, removing the stay in the UK restrictions from May 17, is necessarily cautious.
‘We must make absolutely sure that the countries we reconnect with are safe, that their infection rates are low and their vaccination rates are high.
‘It means making sure we are not incubating the most dangerous variants that they’re not and that they have safe and secure surveillance in place.’
Mr Shapps also declared that people in England ‘should not be travelling’ to countries on the amber list, which includes Spain, France, Italy and Greece.
Holidaymakers who go against the guidance by visiting an amber country must self-isolate at home for 10 days and take two post-arrival tests.
Meanwhile Turkey, the Maldives and Nepal have been added to the red list.
People returning to England from those countries after 4am on Wednesday will be required to stay in a quarantine hotel for 11 nights at a cost of £1,750 for solo travellers.
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