Mixed messaging over “amber” list causes holiday chaos

The government’s new “traffic light” policy for foreign holidays has descended into chaos after ministers gave conflicting advice on whether holidays to “amber” list countries were allowed.

The ban on foreign holidays was lifted across England, Scotland and Wales on Monday, allowing holidaymakers to visit 12 countries on the government’s “green” list without isolating on their return.

Most tourist destinations remained on the “amber” and “red” lists, however, requiring travellers to quarantine on their return. The gov.uk guidelines state that “you should not” travel to “amber” or “red” list countries or territories.

But the guidelines were brought into question yesterday morning when George Eustice, the environment secretary, wrongly suggested that Britons could travel to “amber” list countries to see family and friends if they quarantined on their return.

Speaking to the Today programme on Radio 4, Eustice said: “We don’t want to stop travel altogether and the reason that we have the amber list is there will be reasons why people feel they need to travel, either to visit family or indeed to visit friends.”

Hours later, Boris Johnson corrected him and warned against holidays to “amber” destinations. He said travel to an “amber” list country was off-limits unless travellers “absolutely have to for some pressing family or urgent business reason” and that these destinations were “not somewhere where you should be going on holiday.”

Later in the day, health minister James Bethell went one step further, suggesting that people should not even travel to countries on the “green” list. He said: “Travelling is dangerous. That is not news to us, or to the people who get on those planes in the first place. We do ask people, particularly as we go into the summer, travelling is not for this year, please stay in this country.”

The matter was further confused by Welsh Secretary Simon Hart, who waded into the debate to tell Times Radio that the public should make up their own mind on whether to travel. He said that people should ask themselves whether a trip to a country on the “amber” list was “essential”, before conceding that “some people might think a holiday is essential”.

Speaking on BBC Newsnight, Paul Charles, an aviation analyst, said the “government infighting” and “mixed messaging” was confusing holidaymakers. He said: “Everybody wants clarity and this confusion is no good whether for politicians or for the travel sector.”

The government’s mixed messaging comes as the European Union is expected to relax its travel rules for British holidaymakers. EU ambassadors are meeting today to discuss whether to allow people who have been fully vaccinated to visit countries in the bloc without any restrictions, and whether or not to lift the current ban on non-essential travel from the UK to Europe.

According to calculations by The Independent, five million UK holidaymakers are booked to travel abroad to “amber” list destinations including France, Greece, Spain this summer.