Greece, Spain Excluded from UK’s Travel “Green List” — Report

Greece and Spain are to be excluded from UK’s green light scheme which allows British nationals to travel for their holidays, British tabloid The Sun reported on Tuesday.

The two countries will likely have to wait until a review in June, the report added, citing sources.

Greece and Spain are likely to be on the “Amber list”, meaning people can visit but will have to quarantine for ten days when they return to the UK, the newspaper said.

UK urges travelers to wait

Britons were urged by the government on Tuesday to hold off on booking new vacations, including to Greece, before updated guidelines for safe destinations are released this week.

Liz Truzz, the UK’s cabinet minister for international trade, said that the document would be delivered on Thursday or Friday. The guidance relates to countries that can be visited without quarantine on arrival.

To help its citizens travel safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK government uses a color coded system for labeling which countries it considers safe for travel.

Destinations issued a “Green light” require a negative PCR test ahead of departure and a second negative test on or before their second day home in the UK. The amber and red lights mean varying lengths of quarantine for citizens returning from countries that receive these ratings.

The London Evening Standard reported that bookings were particularly high for Spain and Greece — something that is to be expected since these nations are perennial favorites with British travelers. It added, however, that neither country is expected to be included on the UK’s list of safe travel destinations.

However, the Evening Standard notes that both countries are likely to be included in that group at some point during the Summer.

Greece plans to reopen May 14 for travel

Last year after Greece reopened its borders during the summer holiday season, it quickly reclaimed its popularity with British travelers. At the time, Greece was the second most sought-after vacation destination for Britons. The Greek islands in particular remained popular choices for post-pandemic vacationing.

After experiencing a continent-wide third wave in coronavirus infections, Greece is preparing to reopen its economy for tourists by May 14.

The Greek government has maintained several precautions ahead of its planned reopening date, however. These include quarantine requirements for those returning from abroad and restrictions on nonessential travel.

Those travelers who want to avoid a seven-day quarantine requirement must be able to present to authorities one of two documents. They must carry either the results of a negative PCR test taken within the past 72-hour period, or a public health certificate written in English guaranteeing that they have been fully inoculated.

In this case, fully vaccinated means that fourteen days have passed since their final shot.

Currently, the UK is included among the twelve nations whose citizens are allowed entry into Greece without any quarantine requirement if they can present a vaccine certificate on request.

Tourism is absolutely vital to the Greek economy, directly accounting for about one fifth of GDP and employment, according to the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE).

Despite a partial reopening last summer, the restrictions on international travel caused  Greece’s GDP to drop four percentage points, UN estimates suggest, as hotel and accommodation revenues slumped by two-thirds.

The Greek sector is almost entirely reliant on international tourism, with the domestic population too small and still too financially constrained following the country’s 2008 debt crisis to make up for the drop in external visitors, according to the Financial Times.