Yahoo Finance Malta and Balearics have ‘real possibility’ of joining UK’s travel green list
Malta and the Balearic Islands could soon be added to the list of quarantine-free holidays as part of a limited update to the UK’s green travel list.
The government is expected to update the traffic light system for overseas travel on Thursday.
Malta could be the only conventional holiday hotspot to turn green, according to The Times.
However, a government source said there is a “real possibility” of adding the Balearics too depending on a last-minute decision by ministers - the paper reports.
The potential move has been described as a “game changer” for the struggling travel industry.
Each year, more than five million Britons usually visit the Spanish archipelago which includes Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza.
It is also rumoured several destinations in the Caribbean could also be added to the green list but the popular Greek islands have been ruled out until July at the earliest.
It was hoped that the Greek islands, along with Malta and the Balearics, would be awarded green status in the UK’s last travel review in early June.
But no new destinations were added and Portugal was moved to the amber list, to the dismay of thousands of tourists who had their holiday plans ruined.
Media minister John Whittingdale said he hoped the government would soon be able to put more countries on the green travel list.
He told Sky News the list would be reviewed “later this week” and hoped “we can put more countries onto it”.
But he urged people to go on holiday in Britain, rather than jet off abroad.
“You can have a great holiday in Britain and I think a very large number of people will decide this year that that’s what they will do,” he said.
“Having said that, people like to get away to the sun and there are a number of countries on the green list, and hopefully it will be possible to increase that number.”
Britons who have received both Covid vaccines may be given the go-ahead within “weeks” for summer holidays in the Mediterranean without having to quarantine on their return, it was announced on Tuesday.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed plans to exempt double-jabbed travellers, with details expected this week.
However, travellers would still need to take daily lateral flow tests after returning to the UK to help protect the public from new variants, he added.
“It’s something we are taking clinical advice on and we will have more to say in the weeks to come,” he told Times Radio.
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