People have been given the green light to book foreign holidays for the first time this year despite government warnings that they risk “disappointment” due to high coronavirus rates abroad.
A long-awaited report into international travel published today said that people in England were “free to book holidays abroad in the summer” but insisted there was no certainty that travel to specific countries would be permitted.
The government won’t publish an initial list of “green” countries where travel is permitted until early next month, with holidays starting from May 17. It is highly likely that travel to most European countries including France, Spain, Greece and Italy will effectively remain out of bounds until the end of June when a further review into the policy is published.
Today Jet2, the UK’s second biggest tour operator, appeared to underline concerns over an immediate resumption of European travel by cancelling all flights and holidays until June 23 – six weeks after the official May 17 restart date. It blamed a lack of clear rules from the government.
It is likely that any resumption of holidays and other non-essential overseas trips next month will be limited to a handful of the very safest countries with high vaccination rates, including parts of the Caribbean, Israel and possibly the United States.
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The global travel taskforce report, published this morning, said it was “too early to say which countries will be in the green category this summer”, adding: “People are of course free to book holidays abroad in the summer but for the moment the government must advise that until the picture is clearer there is a continuing risk of disappointment.
“Importantly, a safe, sustainable and robust reopening from 17 May at the earliest does not mark a ‘return to normal’ for international travel.”
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, suggested today that people could book holidays in “two or three weeks”.
“I think everybody doing it understands there are risks with coronavirus and I think people would want to be clear about which countries are going to be in the different traffic light system.
“So there is only two or three weeks to wait before we publish that list itself. But yes, tentative progress, for the first time, people can start to think about visiting loved ones abroad or perhaps a summer holiday,” he said.
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Shapps said that the framework was a “cautious move” to prevent dangerous variants entering the country.
He said the government would give more information on when foreign travel could be allowed before May 17, which is the earliest possible date in the road map for its resumption.
“What we’ve got today is a framework for doing that, so there’s a traffic light system you have been talking about — red, amber, green,” he told Sky News.
“And in the green category, we’ll try to make it as affordable as possible to travel.
“But taking an abundance of caution as we go, because we don’t want to throw away all the good work of these lockdowns and people coming forward for vaccines by picking up variants of concern or anything else.
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“So it’s a cautious move but at least it provides that framework for people.”
A study by Ipsos Mori, commissioned by the Department for Transport as part of today’s report, said that only 30 per cent of people would be prepared to travel abroad if they needed to be tested on their return.
About 68 per cent of people “agree that they will only travel abroad when they feel totally confident that the restrictions won’t change”, it said.
At present people are banned from travelling outside the UK for non-essential reasons, with the threat of £10,000 fines for breaching the rules. People have to take a test up to 72-hours before boarding a UK-bound flight and two further “gold standard” PCR tests on the second and eighth day after arriving in the UK.
The government confirmed today that a traffic light system will be introduced from May 17 although testing will remain in place even when arriving from the safest “green” countries. Amber and red arrivals will still need to quarantine for ten days.
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It said that the requirement for two PCR tests when arriving in England will be reduced to one when travelling from a green country. There will be two tests and quarantine for people from amber and red nations.
Holidaymakers may also be able to carry out their own free rapid lateral flow test before boarding return flights to the UK, overcoming the cost and hassle of sourcing tests abroad.
The government is understood to be considering prioritising travel to countries where 50 per cent of adults have had at least one coronavirus vaccination. That would initially limit travel to a small number of foreign destinations. Other factors will also be considered including countries’ infection rates and their capacity for genomic testing to detect mutant strains.
Today’s report said that the government would introduce a “green watchlist” which will identify countries most at risk of moving from green to amber. This is designed to overcome concerns that countries can suddenly switch while people are on holiday.
It confirmed that the traffic light system and travel restrictions will be reviewed at three points – on June 28, July 31 and October 1.
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The report raised the possibility of introducing “vaccine passports”, saying that that digital documentation could be provided that would “enable residents to prove their Covid-19 status for tests and, if necessary, vaccines for outbound travel to a third country”. Some countries such as Greece, Cyprus and Malta have already said that they will allow vaccinated Britons to enter this summer without the need for tests on arrival.
It also promised to introduce a passenger “Covid-19 charter” by May 17 setting out consumer rights. Later this year the government will consult on additional tools “to enforce consumer rights”. This follows criticism that passengers faced delays of up to four months last year for refunds for holidays that had to be cancelled because of the pandemic.
Additionally, the report said that action would be taken to cut queueing times in big airports such as Heathrow, where passengers have faced delays of more than six hours because of the number of checks carried out on documentation. This includes the need to ensure passengers have taken a pre-flight test and filled out a passenger locator form stating where they will quarantine. Under reforms, the process will be fully automated, making far wider use of “e-gates” at passport control.
However, the report prompted anger from airlines which warned that passengers would still be priced out of travel. They called for PCR tests to be scrapped in favour of a cheaper option for travellers to the safest countries. The package of two PCR tests on arrival into the UK currently costs £210, suggesting that this will be cut to just over £100 for people arriving from green list countries. It still represents a bill of £400-plus for a family of four.
Tim Alderslade, the chief executive of Airlines UK, which represents carriers such as British Airways and easyJet, said that the announcement did “not represent a reopening of travel as promised by ministers” but that it was “a further setback for an industry on its knees and the UK’s wider economic recovery”.
Jet2 extended the suspension of its flights and holidays to June 23 in response to the government’s announcements on how foreign travel will resume.
Steve Heapy, its chief executive, said the company was “extremely disappointed” by the “lack of clarity and detail” laid out by ministers.
He added: “We still do not know when we can start to fly, where we can fly to and the availability and cost of testing. Rather than answering questions, the framework leaves everyone asking more.”
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, questioned the government’s transparency. “How exactly will the government use the data to say this country is green, this one is amber and this one is red? At the moment I really have no idea,” he said.
“The government needs to be transparent — the government needs to be clear.”
