Spain, France and Italy are among the most popular destinations to miss out on a “green’ slot”.
For starters, it’s small, but not too small; just 10 by five miles wide, with steep volcanic cliffs, lush pastures and a coastline teeming with marine life.
“We welcome the three-week review to continually update the green list and we hope the Government will quickly provide the green watchlist, giving us real data on what constitutes a country moving between the categories.
“We know that people are longing for a holiday, but there remains a great deal of uncertainty for the industry and holidaymakers alike.
Thomas Cook is reporting a 250 per cent week-on-week rise in bookings for Portugal holidays today, since the country’s addition to the ‘green list’.
“The past week has already been one of the best of the year so far in terms of bookings for Portugal,” says Alan French, Thomas Cook CEO.
“Our data shows more than six million people are poised ready to book a summer holiday and we expect many will hold until the next announcement comes.
8,000 miles across the South Atlantic, they’re a vestige of empire whose kinship with Britain still inspires murmurs of resentment from next-door Argentina.
It’s not all good news: Turkey, Nepal and the Maldives have been added to the ‘red list’, meaning returning travellers must pay £1,750 to spend 10 days in a quarantine hotel.
With the news that Israel is officially on the green list for holidays from May 17, there are plenty of reasons to make it your first-choice summer holiday destination.
Its inclusion on the Government’s green list was not unexpected – the country has one of the lowest infection rates in Europe and its transmissibility index continues to fall.
For that, they’ll be wanting their golden ticket; proof of inoculation, in whatever form becomes widely recognised, which will grant them a seat on airlines and cruise ships, and spell the end of those retch-inducing, nostril smarting swabs shoved repetitively into respiratory passages,” writes Annabel Fenwick-Elliott.
Although some countries, such as Greece, have already suggested that fully vaccinated travellers will not have to provide proof of a negative test, many others may still demand evidence that holidaymakers are Covid-free.
Israel is one of the most likely contenders for the green list announcement today.
It is one of the few places in Israel where locals of all colours and creeds actively work together to promote an all-embracing philosophy of wellbeing and harmony.
Abta and Airlines UK is urging the FCDO to adopt the same approach as it did last year, when different advice for islands, such as the Canaries or Balearics, was issued, rather than blanket advice to cover an entire country.
They highlighted the difference in infection rates often seen between islands and their mainlands.
Tonight the latest British Airways ad will run in prime time, at just the moment that many of us will be booking flights to whichever countries are on the government’s green and amber list.
The US Transportation Security Administration said it screened 1.64 million passengers on Thursday at US airports, the highest number since March 2020, Reuters reports.
In anticipation of rising demand this summer US airlines have been adding more flights to its schedule.
More than 3,500 people have died since the pandemic began, 400 of them in the last two weeks alone, according to official figures.
He told BBC Breakfast: “Our prices are very, very stable.
Before the pandemic, the museum was recording up to 1,000 visitors a day, most of them foreign tourists.
It seems most likely that the later you travel this year, the better your chance of having a holiday free of restrictions.
If you do need, or want, to commit in advance then September is looking like a better month to combine green travel status with decent weather.
The European Union has agreed to reopen “by the start of June” to vaccinated travellers from countries with a “good health situation”, likely with the use of the bloc’s Digital Green Certificate , a vaccine passport.
While the UK is likely to be on the EU’s “green” list, such is our vaccine progress and low case rate, it does not mean all EU countries will make our green list.
A Ryanair flight from Stansted to Portugal’s capital Lisbon on May 17 was £152, compared with £15 on May 16.
Lufthansa last week cut its capacity to forecast to about 40% of its pre-pandemic capacity for 2021.
The most popular options with British travellers will sit on the ‘amber’ list, meaning holidaymakers will have to quarantine for up to 10 days on return.
The only chance for Spain to be on the list in any form at this point, would be if the Government added either or both of the Canary or Balearic Islands.