The travel industry has said that England’s ‘green list’ of countries is “a missed opportunity”. Such countries accounted for less than 6% of all passengers carried from the UK in 2019. Portugal offers the greatest hope, with 56 routes from the UK this summer across 24 UK airports and seven airlines.
‘Green’ countries are those where returning passengers don’t need to quarantine, although they must still be tested for coronavirus. It comes into effect on May 17th.
While encompassing 12 countries, they collectively have just 5.7% of the UK’s 255 million passengers in 2019, as shown below, according to a combination of UK CAA and booking data. 94.3% of the market – almost everywhere – is on the amber or red lists, meaning passengers must quarantine.
In reality, it’s worse than that. Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore are not presently accepting UK tourists. If these nations are taken out, green countries reduce to just 4.5% of all passengers. The main countries are therefore Portugal, Iceland, Israel, and Gibraltar.
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A hard balance to get right
Of course, it must be tough to balance very conflicting groups, each with different priorities. Put too many countries on the green list, and the risk of mutation and rising coronavirus cases – and everything that would come from that – goes up. Yet, there is a greater likelihood of more staycations, so benefiting the country.
Put too few countries on the green list, especially tourist-heavy hotspots given it is the all-important summer season, and the recovery of the broad travel…