THE Caribbean, Dubai and Gibraltar could soon be welcoming sun-starved Brits as the Government prepares to open up travel.
Boris Johnson has been tipped announce a new ‘traffic-light’ system letting holiday-makers go to ‘green’ countries with low Covid rates and strong vaccine rollouts.
The PM is set to make four big Covid announcements on Monday as he lays out England's next steps out of lockdown.
As well as holidays, measures on vaccine passports, lockdown and social distancing are also due to be announced.
Sluggish jab rates and Covid variants have dashed hopes of a European getaway this summer.
But nations with high virus cases and slow jab rollouts will require more quarantining.
Caribbean islands including Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados, are being tipped as among the first to reopen, The Times reports.
Holiday traffic lights
GREEN: Anyone returning from these countries must take a pre-flight lateral flow test at their own cost, then take a “sequencing test” within days of landing to check for new strains;
AMBER: Like green but those entering the UK must isolate at home for ten days after arrival. They can get out after five days with a negative test paid for privately;
RED: Arrivals must isolate on their return in an authorised hotel at their own cost — as they do currently.
Other destinations at the front of the queue will include Gibraltar, Israel, the Seychelles, Dubai, Malta, the Maldives and Singapore.
Brits could also swap Spain for Bahrain, which has seen a rapid roll-out of its vaccination programme.
But popular destinations including Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey may still require families to quarantine when returning to the UK, according to research by the PC Agency.
The study found countries which could be put on the lowest risk list include Malta and Portugal, both of which have kept cases low while Malta is the leading EU destination for the vaccine behind the UK.
Israel could also make the list, with 60 per cent of the population having their first jab.
The US could even make the green list with plans to have the adult population given the first jab by mid-May.
The new system being discussed would use a three-colour guide to mandate what restrictions travellers would face depending on the risk if travel resumes from June.
Countries on the "green" list would be able to travel without restrictions such as Covid tests or quarantining, and only require a lateral flow test when returning to the UK.
"Amber" countries may require some restrictions such as negative Covid tests and a short three-day quarantine
Meanwhile "red" countries are likely to face the harshest measures including 10-day quarantines.
Canada, Barbados, Mexico, Gibraltar, Sri Lanka, Morocco, the UAE and Grenada could also all find themselves on the green list, according to a study by The PC Agency.
But families face paying £600 for Covid tests to go on foreign holidays this summer – even if the destination is on the "green" list.
For those planning to go abroad, arranging pre-departure tests could add at least £400 to the cost of a holiday abroad for a family of four.
While the second post-arrival test could put on a further £200.
On arrival, destinations could also demand pre-holiday tests to be shown at the border for those not fully vaccinated, which could add potentially hundreds more pounds to the cost of a trip.
On the way home, another test would be taken 72 hours before boarding UK-bound flights, plus another two days after arriving, to make sure travellers have not picked up a mutated Covid strain.
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