The UK’s traffic light system, widely criticised by the travel
industry, is set to be overhauled in the next few weeks, according to sources
familiar with the matter.
The Government looks set to ditch the current green and amber categories
and replace it with a system that allows vaccinated travellers to go to
countries with similar levels of vaccination as the UK. It is thought the overhaul will happen before 1 October.
It is understood that the red list of countries, which the Government
says should not be visited and from which arrivals must enter a government-approved
quarantine facility, will remain.
Commenting on the
reports, Paul Charles, CEO of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: “The
simplest system, as we’ve been advocating and which the government is currently
considering, is for countries to either be red or green, but with fewer reds.
This works well already for fully-jabbed US citizens travelling abroad who have
plenty of freedom; and would remove much of the distress of travel caused by
worrying about frequent colour zone changes while in a destination.
“There’s also no
reason now for the likes of South Africa, Turkey, Kenya to be on the red list
and out of bounds for fully-jabbed citizens.”
“But we also need to
see the testing regime simplified for those who are fully-jabbed. Pre-departure
tests, taken before flying, training or ferrying back to the UK, should be
withdrawn altogether if you’re fully vaccinated, and day 2 tests should be
antigen and not PCR.”
He added, “Only by
simplifying in this way will travel be able to properly recover.”