Traffic light system for holidays confirmed but ‘too early’ to start booking
Don't start packing your bags just yet.
It’s still too early to say whether people will be able to go on foreign holidays again this summer, Boris Johnson has warned.
Giving an update to the nation on the next stages of his lockdown roadmap, the Prime Minister said plans that may allow some travel again are ‘not there yet.’
The state of the pandemic abroad, and the progress of vaccination programmes in other countries, means England may not allow trips abroad on May 17 as previously planned.
People are being told not to book summer holidays in other countries until the ‘picture is clearer.’
Mr Johnson said he was ‘hopeful’ some foreign travel may be possible by May 17 but said: ‘I do not wish to give hostages to fortune or underestimate the difficulties that we’re seeing in some of the destination countries that people might want to go to.’
He added: ‘We don’t want to see the virus being reimported into this country from abroad. Plainly there is a surge in other parts of the world and we have to be mindful of that and we have to be realistic.’
A global travel taskforce has been looking into ways in which the UK could allow trips abroad again.
The latest Government update on the issue has confirmed there will be a traffic light system introduced, which ranks countries by their risk level.
Mr Johnson said the full report of the taskforce is due out this week, and the Government will then be setting out the next steps ‘well before May 17.’
He added: ‘I wish I could give you more on that. I know that people watching will want to know exactly what they can do from May 17 but you know, we’re not there yet. As soon as we have solid information, we’ll let you know but that’s where we are for the time being.’
Under the traffic light system being considered, all countries will be given a green, amber or red rating, with those deemed to be low risk becoming the destinations where the fewest restrictions are in place.
No decisions have yet been made on which country may be given which rating.
It is understood that assessments of the risk in each particular country will be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a country’s population which has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants and the country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.
Travellers arriving from countries rated ‘green’ will not be required to isolate although pre-departure and post-arrival tests will still be needed.
For those arriving back in the UK from destinations classed as ‘amber’, a ten day self-isolation period still applies although this can be shortened if the person tests negative after five days.
Red restrictions remain the harshest and arrivals are required to quarantine at a designated hotel, as is the case currently.
Many popular European travel destinations for UK tourists – including Spain and Italy – could be excluded from the green list as a third wave of the pandemic is spreading across the continent.
The Prime Minister’s caution will disappoint many in the travel industry who had been gearing up to start offering holidays abroad again this summer.
It’s currently illegal to go on holiday in a foreign country and anyone who does so risks a £5,000 fine.
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