The telegraph
Portugal, Israel, Greek and Spanish islands have been declared safe by the Foreign Office
Portugal, the Canary Islands, Corfu and Crete are among the popular European vacation destinations that have been classified as travel safe by the Foreign Office, which raises hopes that they could be on the green list of travel. Within the last week, the Foreign Office has been quietly closing its advice against non-essential overseas travel to Portugal – with the exception of the Azores – Malta and the Greek islands of Rhodes, Kos, Zakynthos, Corfu and Crete, some of the most popular destinations for Portugal for British tourists. It has also stated that the Canary Islands and Israel, one of the most heavily vaccinated nations in the world, are safe and stated that it “no longer advises against all but essential travel” to the destinations. The Foreign Office’s advice against non-essential travel to mainland Greece and Spain remains in place, reflecting last year’s policy of allowing vacationers to visit the islands because their Covid rates were lower than the mainland. The move comes as the government prepares to lift the foreign travel ban on May 17th. On Friday, she will publish her green list of countries vacationers can fly to from the same date without being quarantined on their return. The list – likely to be no more than a “tiny handful” of fewer than 10 targets – is based on countries with high vaccination rates, low prevalence of Covid and its variants, and their ability to genome analyze the virus. The Foreign Office advice, based on infection and vaccination rates, provides an indicator of government thinking about a country’s security. In contrast to the Green List, other factors such as the performance of the health system and the risk of terrorism are also taken into account. The Department of Transport (DfT) is responsible for publishing the green, amber and red lists of the countries which, unlike the Foreign Office list, list the restrictions that holidaymakers are subjected to on their return to the UK.
