BRITS can now go ahead and book their summer holidays abroad, Grant Shapps declared today.
The transport secretary has ditched the official advice not to plan foreign trips for the first time.
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And he vowed to drive down the cost of testing for people who want to jet off for some sun – or to see family abroad.
But he urged would-be travellers to wait another couple of weeks until the Government has published which destinations will be on its green list.
Asked whether people should now book a trip, he said: “My advice today would be moving on from where we were before.
“I’m not telling people they shouldn’t book summer holidays now, it’s the first time I’ve been able to say that for many months.
“But I think everyone doing it understands there are risks with Corornavirus.
“And of course actually I think people would want to be clear about which countries are going to be in the different traffic light system and people predominantly of course will be looking to book in a green country.
“There’s only two or three weeks to wait before we publish that list itself but yes, tentative progress.
“For the first time people can start to think about visiting loved ones abroad or perhaps a summer holiday.
“But we’re doing it very very cautiously because we don’t want to see any return of Coronavirus in this country.”
The Government has announced international travel will be governed by a “traffic light” system when it restarts again – set to be on May 17.
Under the scheme countries will be classified as either green, amber, or red, depending on the state of the pandemic and rate of vaccinations.
There would be quarantine-free travel to “green listed” countries that have jabbed a large portion of the population.
But people returning from those destinations would still have to take a test both before getting on the plane and then again on their second day back.
The second test in the UK would have to be a PCR test, which can cost around £120 each.
The US, Gibraltar, Malta and much of the Caribbean are tipped for green status – and Greece could also make the cut.
Spain and Italy may also be able to join from June if their jabs programmes progress well.
Those returning from amber countries would have to quarantine for two weeks and take two PCR tests at a cost of over £200.
And people arriving from red list states would be put into hotel quarantine, which costs £1,750 per person.
