Price Of Flights To Portugal And Gibraltar Surge As Holiday Green List Is Revealed

Price Of Flights To Portugal And Gibraltar Surge As Holiday Green List Is Revealed.

Flight prices and holiday bookings to Portugal and Gibraltar surged as the government unveiled the list of countries to which British holidaymakers can travel without having to quarantine on their return. Travel experts said the limited number of flights available and the prospect of foreign trips to green list destinations without having to quarantine was pushing up prices.

Airlines have drastically scaled back the number of flights they operate due to Covid-related travel restrictions but now plan to increase them later this month.

The cost of flights has shot up from 17 May, when international travel is to resume according to the government’s roadmap out of lockdown. For example, a British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Faro on the Algarve on 17 May costs £448 – €515, compared with £237 – 272.50 two days earlier. A Ryanair flight from London Stansted to Porto is currently priced at £232.99 – 267.89 on 17 May, while anyone travelling the day before would pay only £14.99 – €17.23.

The UK travel firm Not Just Travel, which employs 800 people, has recorded a 50% increase in summer bookings in the last seven days. Its co-founder Steve Witt said: “There is a gold rush ahead for holidays. Prices will be increasing day by day as a result of demand.”

Spain, France, Italy and Greece are expected to be on the amber list but could switch to green at a “checkpoint” review on June 28. Assessments will be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a country’s population that has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants, and the country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.

People arriving from a green location will not need to quarantine on their return and will have to take one PCR test within two days of arriving. Those returning from an amber country must self-isolate for at least five days and take two tests. The red list requires an 11-night stay in a quarantine hotel at a cost of £1,750.

There will also be a “green watch list”, to give travellers advance notice of countries about to move to amber or red. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not set dates for the restart of foreign holidays.

Source: dailymail