British holidaymakers to be allowed to travel to ‘75 countries with no quarantine’

Brits will be able to go on holiday to a new list of 75 countries without needing to quarantine when they return to the UK, according to new reports.

The news comes following the government ditching the plans to create ‘air bridges’, which were going to make travelling between two countries which have similarly low levels of coronavirus easier. 

The full list of countries will be published by the government today or tomorrow, and will see the lifting of the Foreign Office’s ban on non-essential travel to nearly all EU destinations plus many others. 

The 75 countries listed have been deemed sufficiently low-risk destinations for holidaymakers based on their COVID-19 levels, a declining infection rate and that their data can be trusted. 

From Monday, travellers to 75 countries will no longer have to quarantine for 14 days when they return to the UK. 

Instead, the air bridges will be replaced with a traffic light system which will decide which nations are safe, a move which has been massively welcomed by the travel and aviation industry.

‘Green’ or ‘Amber’ countries will not require 14 days isolation on returning to the UK, but ‘Red’ countries will. 

Many popular holiday destinations will be found on the list, such as Croatia, Turkey, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Greece, Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland, Iceland, Poland, Malta, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia and Germany.

However, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, has this week she reserved the right to quarantine English visitors. Likewise, Ireland is expected to publish its own ‘Green’ list of countries and has already indicated that Britons could be forced to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival.

Some countries like Australia and New Zealand are expected to retain border controls and impose quarantine until the end of the year.

The USA, Russia and Brazil are among the list of ‘Red’ countries where non-essential travel will continue to be banned. 

Sweden, which tops the tables in the EU for coronavirus cases, is expected to be classed as Red, as with Portugal due to a recent outbreak in and around the capital, Lisbon. 

Despite this being welcomed by the travel industry, some government officials have claimed creating a specific list of countries exempt from quarantine poses a ‘diplomatic nightmare’ and could open ‘legal challenges’, according to The Telegraph. 

These officials have proposed a list that expands on the Foreign Office’s travel advice to include high-risk countries where Britons should refrain from travelling to instead. 

Henry Smith, chair of the cross-party Future of Aviation group, said: “This has been done in a very piecemeal way and with a degree of uncertainty. I still think the introduction of quarantine was not the right decision but we are where we are.

“We need to get a set of criteria and subsequent list of countries published. Every day of uncertainty translates into more jobs lost.”

What do you think, are you planning on travelling or waiting a little longer?