UK Covid travel red list reduced to zero to boost holiday demand ahead of Christmas

The United Kingdom removed all seven remaining countries from the “red travel list” before the Christmas holidays.

Grant Shapps confirmed the good news, which is intended to give holidaymakers a boost ahead of the festive season, in a tweet on Thursday.

The seven countries will be removed from the list starting Monday, November 1, next week at 4am.

The Transport Secretary wrote: “UPDATE: All seven remaining countries on the red list will be REMOVED from 4am Monday 1st November.”

The seven Red List countries being removed from the list are Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.

Those arriving from these countries are currently limited to a ten-day hotel quarantine. The cost of this is £2,285 per person.

The red list will reportedly continue to serve as a “lever” for ministers if they deem it necessary to protect Britain from another dangerous variant.

The Times reported that thousands of hotel rooms would remain on call.

In early October, the government drastically reduced the red list from 54 countries to just seven, allowing travel to a number of popular holiday destinations such as South Africa, Brazil and Mexico.

Paul Charles, managing director of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said there was “currently no justification for putting any country on a red list or introducing hotel quarantine”.

“There have been no new variants of concern since May, and countries are now learning that blanket border measures such as locking down entire countries do not work,” he said.

“The best approach is to check a person’s vaccination status and make sure they are up to date if they want to travel without restrictions.

“It is encouraging that the British government has finally understood this.

“The seven countries currently on the Red List, including Panama and Colombia, would be happy to be removed from the list later today.”

Due to the relatively high Covid infection rate in the UK, Morocco imposed a travel ban on the UK last week.

It came into force at 11.59pm on Wednesday 21 October, disrupting holiday plans for thousands of families over the half-term break, leaving travellers from the UK “in limbo” in Morocco while they tried to find a flight home.

This move has led to speculation as to whether other countries will follow suit.

Another country allowing travel again is the US, which will lift its strict restrictions on the UK and the rest of Europe, as well as China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil on November 8.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday that imposes new vaccination requirements on most foreign air travelers and lifts the travel ban that has been in place since early 2020.

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