Montenegro and Thailand are added to travel red list
Airlines slam updated travel list for ‘keeping tourists looking over their shoulders’ as just seven countries including the Azores and Switzerland go green while Thailand goes red
Leisure travel to Montenegro and Thailand will be banned from Monday at 4am Other countries moving to green are Finland, Liechtenstein and Lithuania There has been no change to any of the main European holiday destinations
Montenegro and Thailand are being added to the travel red list while Canada, Denmark and the Azores are among just seven countries moved to green.
Thailand and Montenegro will be added to the red list, meaning leisure travel to these countries is banned and anyone entering England from them will be required to spend 10 days in a quarantine hotel at a cost of £2,285 per person.
Other countries moving from amber to green are Finland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania and Switzerland.
And Canada will open its borders completely to Brits who have had both of their vaccines from September 7.
Thailand and Montenegro will be added to the red list, meaning leisure travel to these countries is banned and anyone entering England from them will be required to spend 10 days in a quarantine hotel at a cost of £2,285 per person
The changes come into force at 4am on Monday and mean that even travellers who haven’t been vaccinated can visit without having to quarantine when they return.
Thailand has recently seen rates of Covid infection rise to 400 per 100,000 of population even though it forces tourists to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
There has been no change to any of the main European holiday destinations including Space, Italy and Greece which are all on the amber list – meaning Brits with two jabs don’t have to quarantine when they come back.
Travel lists, which determine the quarantine and testing requirements for people arriving in the UK, are updated every three weeks.
Many popular tourist destinations such as Spain, France and Greece are on the amber list, which means returning travellers who are not fully vaccinated must self-isolate at home for 10 days, take one pre-departure test and two post-arrival test.
British Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps leaves 10 Downing Street
Fully-vaccinated travellers are exempt from quarantine, but must still take one pre-departure test and one post-arrival test.
A spokesman for Airlines UK, the industry body representing UK-registered carriers, said the ‘small number of green destinations’ is making international travel from the UK ‘more expensive, burdensome and uncertain compared to our neighbours’.
He went on: ‘Too many families are having to look over their shoulders for rule changes and pay through the nose for tests, with no sign from Government that this will change.
‘As has already happened across Europe, it’s time for a more proportionate system where tests are dropped for the fully-vaccinated and from destinations where Covid risks are low, with tougher measures targeted at a small number of high risk countries.’
Labour’s shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon warned that ‘any loosening of restrictions carries with it risks, particularly from variants that could undermine the progress we have made on vaccines’.
