The Balearic islands, including tourist hotspots Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca, will be moving back onto the UK’s amber travel list, Grant Shapps has confirmed, along with the British Virgin Islands.
The transport secretary made the announcement on Twitter, less than three weeks after the islands were moved to the “green watchlist” on June 24
The green watchlist contains destinations that are currently quarantine-free for travel, but holidaymakers are warned these countries are most at-risk of moving to the amber list if Covid cases rise.
Bulgaria and Hong Kong are the latest countries to be added to the green list, Shapps confirmed in his tweets on Wednesday.
The changes will come into force on Monday July 19 – the same day most lockdown restrictions end in England. From that day, the self-isolation rules around travel are also changing and those who are double vaccinated will no longer have to quarantine on return from amber destinations.
However, those who are yet to be double vaccinated – or those who had their second vaccination within the last 14 days – will still need to self-isolate at home upon return from an amber destination for 10 days, plus take additional PCR tests.
Emma Coulthurst, from TravelSupermarket, told HuffPost UK some unvaccinated or single-vaccinated Brits may now be scrambling for flights home from the Balearic islands. This was the case when Portugal was moved from the green list to the amber list in June.
“If you are not double vaccinated, speak to your package holiday provider, if you are on a package holiday, they may be able to get you home early,” she said.
“If you have gone DIY and booked a flight, you can look to change your flight. Some airlines will charge you a fee to do so, others won’t. So, if a fee is involved, look to see if it is cheaper for you to just book a fresh flight.
“Alternatively, if you are not double-vaccinated and you are able to self-isolate on return, you will need to organise a day eight PCR test and also a test to release PCR test on day five if you want to be released from self-isolation early.”