Green list countries: When will the travel announcement be made?

While international travel from England, Wales and Scotland is currently illegal without a permitted reason, overseas tourism could be back on the cards from Monday 17 May, with a traffic light system set to highlight the green list countries that require no quarantine on return to the UK. Here’s what we know so far.

What does the green list mean for travel?

The traffic light system will introduce a green list, amber list and possibly updated red list of countries, with each colour meaning different rules for testing and quarantining. Anyone travelling to a green list country will be required to take one test (not yet confirmed as PCR) before departure, and one PCR test on or before day two of arrival in England/Wales. No quarantine will be required unless the test is positive.

The rules for Scotland and Northern Ireland have not yet been confirmed.

Which countries are on the green list?

Unfortunately, they haven’t been confirmed yet.

However, many have taken educated guesses about the list, given that a Global Travel Taskforce report released on Friday 9 April stated that vaccination rates, Covid prevalence, extent of variants and capacity of genome sequencing of the virus will all be taken into consideration when categorising countries. Analysis carried out by Robert Boyle, former strategy chief at BA and its owner IAG, has suggested that only eight countries could make the list. They would be:

USA
Israel
Malta
Iceland
Ireland
New Zealand
Australia
Gibraltar

It’s unlikely, however, that Australia and New Zealand will allow entry from the UK this year, while the USA has advised against travel to 80 per cent of the world’s countries, including the UK.

Some have predicted that other European countries – such as Portugal, which now has extremely low Covid rates, and Greece, which has promised to welcome fully vaccinated tourists without quarantine – could make the list.

When will the green list be announced?

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said on Friday 9 April that the full list of countries would be revealed two or three weeks later. It is widely expected that we should know more in early May.

For now, we recommend booking a trip with a flexible policy and investing in travel insurance with Covid cover for extra peace of mind.

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