Good news for holidaymakers. France has been removed from the ‘amber-plus’ list and seven countries have been added to the green list, bringing the total up to 36. BBC News has more.
France will not be on England’s amber-plus list from 04:00 BST on Sunday, meaning fully vaccinated arrivals will no longer have to quarantine.
The country was put on the list last month, amid concerns about the Beta variant, which scientists believe may be more resistant to vaccines.
At the same time, seven countries have been added to the green list for travel including Germany, Austria and Norway.
The transport secretary said the country “must continue to be cautious”.
Despite prior speculation, Spain will remain on the amber list, enabling travellers who are fully vaccinated to continue to enjoy a quarantine-free return.
However, travellers arriving in the UK from Spain are now advised to take a PCR test – rather than the cheaper lateral flow tests – for the mandatory pre-departure test as a “precaution against the increased prevalence of the virus and variants in the country”.
There were already 29 countries or territories on the green list, bringing the total to 36.
Will this be enough to save the summer? Travel industry bosses don’t think so.
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of the industry body Airlines U.K., said the announcement was “another missed opportunity” with U.K. travel opening up “far slower” than the rest of Europe.
Johan Lundgren, chief executive of EasyJet, said he was disappointed but the news provided “some reassurance” to customers – after days of uncertainty around which list countries would be on which list.
The Government must also fix the expensive testing regime, he added.
The U.K. was still a long way from a meaningful restart of international travel, chief executive of the Airport Operators Association, Karen Dee said.
And Mark Tanzer, chief executive of ABTA – the association of travel agents and tour operators – said the “snail’s pace” movement failed to capitalise on the success of the vaccination programme.
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