No more 'amber list' countries for UK and testing relaxed: Spain gets set for half-term holidaymakers

TRAVELLERS entering the UK from Spain will no longer need to quarantine as long as they are fully vaccinated and will not have to pay for PCR tests, the British Department for Transport (DfT) has announced – a change which airlines and tour operators have welcomed with open arms.

The UK's 'traffic light' system for countries, denoting the government's perception of Covid contagion risk, will be abolished from October 4 and only the 'red list' will remain, with eight nations currently on it soon to be removed – Turkey, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Oman, Kenya, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and The Maldives.

Spain, like most of the European Union, has been on 'amber', meaning anyone not vaccinated has to quarantine for 10 days when entering the UK, whether they are resident returning holidaymakers or visiting Britain, and PCR tests have been required 72 hours before arrival, and at two and eight days after arrival.

Now, anyone with a recognised vaccine certificate – which includes the EU's 'Covid passport', available for residents in Spain to download from their regional health authority website – only has to take a test on day two, not on day eight, nor prior to travel to the UK.

Instead of a PCR, which can cost anything from €70 to €200 in Spain and averages around €150-plus in the UK, travellers entering the country can take a much cheaper lateral flow test (LFT) on their second day.

These are less sensitive than a PCR and do not provide complete data on viral strains and genomic information, so they are typically used to 'prove a negative' rather than to diagnose a suspected case or a contact.

If a person entering Britain tests positive with a LFT, he or she will then be required to self-isolate and take a PCR, which is provided by the national health service (NHS) and is free of charge, for UK residents and for tourists.

Countries due for removal from the 'red list' will join the quarantine-free nations from this coming Wednesday (September 22), and the 'amber' and 'green' lists and their respective requirements will be eliminated from October 4 at 04.00 UK time (05.00 mainland Spain time).

British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says the LFTs to replace PCRs, and the removal of the obligation to take a test before arrival and on day eight, will be in place by late October in order to ease foreign travel for UK residents in time for school half-term week.

Airlines and tour operators in Britain report a 'pent-up desire for travel' among the general public and are looking forward to a surge in bookings for 'winter sun' at the end of October – and Spain is very likely to be high on the list, providing a huge late-season boost for the Spanish tourism industry.

Although staycations have rocketed this summer, foreign visitors have been low in number – not entirely absent, especially those from neighbouring nations such as France and Portugal, but with British travellers conspicuous by their absence.

Whilst not the only nationality Spain's tourism industry relies upon, the UK market is considerable – particularly in the Canary Islands and on the Costa del Sol – and other local industry in coastal locations depends upon Brits and other Europeans with holiday homes visiting in summer, or family and friends of resident Europeans popping over to stay with them.

And the weather is still usually very pleasant on the southern and Mediterranean coasts and the islands in late October – sometimes even suitable for beach breaks, for visitors more used to a cold climate – meaning British holidaymakers are likely to include these as their top destination choices if they opt to travel this autumn.

Visitors entering the UK or resident holidaymakers returning from anywhere else in the world, including after the 'green' and 'amber' lists are scrapped, still need to complete a passenger locator form before setting off, although airlines and tour operators in Britain are calling for these to be axed along with the quarantine and testing rules.

World Travel and Tourism Council chairwoman and CEO Julia Simpson says the UK's 'illogical' traffic-light system had caused 'confusion and distress' for travellers – internationally, the pandemic has cost the tourism industry around 62 million jobs – and says authorities should be focusing on the risk of 'individual people, not countries'.

It is estimated that fewer than 1% of Covid cases in the UK and the rest of Europe were imported by tourists.

DfT secretary Grant Shapps' announcement applies to England for the scrapping of PCR obligations, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have followed suit with the axing of the 'amber' and 'green' lists and with taking the eight countries mentioned off the 'red list', but as yet, these three regions have not confirmed they will eliminate the requirement for a pre-departure PCR, or that they will replace the day-two PCR with an LFT.

Over 40 tourism organisations have signed an open letter to Scottish Parliament warning that if it does not follow England's approach to testing for international arrivals, the 2022 holiday industry for the region 'could be at serious risk'.

Approximately 80% of British adults, and around 90% of those in Spain – plus, now, a high number of Spaniards aged 12 to 18 – have been fully vaccinated.