Holidays to Europe and US unlikely to return until AUGUST, warns travel expert
HOLIDAYS to Europe or the US are unlikely to return until August, a travel expert has warned.
PC Agency's Paul Charles has said that despite many countries meeting the UK government's criteria, the threat of the Delta variant is likely to stop destinations being added to the green list.
He said: "My clear understanding is that UK Government Ministers do not intend to open up travel to mainland Europe or the USA before the end of July."
This means families may miss out on the first few weeks of the summer holiday period - and face further uncertainty for the remaining August holidays.
Mr Charles added that destinations such as Portugal, Malta, Grenada and Morocco should be added to the green list, according to data used by the UK government to determine which countries are safe.
Instead, it is likely that travel will only reopen when the vaccine rollout "hits 18-year-olds," he warned, and when the Delta variant (previously known as the Indian variant) has been eradicated.
He said: "Once the UK has opened up almost completely, then overseas travel will be back on the agenda for the end of July."
Brits have already faced travel chaos after Portugal, one of the few countries on the UK's green list, was removed at short notice.
Frantic holidaymakers were forced to cut their trips short to rush back to the UK to avoid the quarantine restrictions, prompting flights to hit prices of £800.
There are just 11 countries, which include Gibraltar and Iceland, on the green list right now, although the majority of them require a mandatory quarantine on arrival or have their borders closed to Brits.
The rest of Europe remains on the amber list which requires a 10-day quarantine back in the UK as well as two additional Covid tests.
The UK government have already warned Brits to avoid a foreign holiday this summer and that trips to amber list countries is not advised.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said Brits should stay at home this summer as the spread of the Indian variant has wrecked plans to reopen travel.
He said earlier this week: "We'd hoped the situation would be improving in other parts of the world, that we'd be able to progressively add other countries to the green list.
"Sadly that's not the situation, we do have this new variant of concern first identified in India that is now cropping up in other countries."
Health Secretary Matt Hancock also said that restoring international travel is an "important goal" - but is one that will be "challenging and hard."
The Department for Transport (DoT) reviews the travel lists every three weeks, with the next update at the end of June.
Despite this, more than 16million Brits will defy the government's advice and head off for a holiday abroad this summer.
One in five are considering heading to an amber list country - with half of those planning on jetting off to the Spanish Costas.
Spain is already welcoming Brits restriction-free, while fully vaccinated Brits can now visit France with just an antigen test.
Greece, Cyprus and Portugal also remain open to Brits with a negative PCR test.
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It was also hoped that a UK-US travel corridor would open shortly, with discussions between Boris Johnson and Joe Biden at the G7 Summit this week, although officials have said this is unlikely.
Many Brits are opting for UK holidays this year due to travel uncertainty abroad.
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However, families face being priced out with a week in Cornwall triple the price of ones in Spain.
Thankfully, there are still from UK deals - we've found some great city break deals from just £29.