UK puts Madeira on the Green list

 In Covid-19, News, Tourism, Travel

The United Kingdom has decided to include Madeira on its green list of travel destinations. 

It means that the British can once again go on holiday on the Portuguese islands of Madeira and Porto Santo without having to go into quarantine on their return.
The announcement was made by Boris Johnson after the government was pressured by the tourism industry to add more countries to the green list.
“We’re adding Malta on the green list and also Madeira and the Balearic Islands, various other British territories and the Caribbean too,” said the British Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps on Twitter. Israel and Jerusalem were also added to the green watchlist.
Furthermore, the minister also said that the government that it would shortly allow UK residents that had already been fully vaccinated to travel to countries on the amber list without having to comply with a period of quarantine on their return.
“We will release further details next month” wrote the secretary of State for Transport on Twitter.
Portugal, however, remains on the amber list and with Covid-19 cases rising fast in Lisbon again this week. With numbers high in the Algarve resort of Albufeira, it seems unlikely that Portugal will return to the green list for the time being.
At the beginning of May, the British government included Portugal on the green list, paving the way for around 30,000 British tourists to fly to the Algarve from 17 May.
However, at the beginning of June the UK government, concerned about the Delta variant and apparently under pressure from the local tourism sector to encourage people to holiday at home, changed its mind and took Portugal off the green list, forcing thousands of British to spend 10 days in quarantine on their return home from 8 June.
When Portugal went onto the green list in May, flight bookings to Faro skyrocketed by 500%. After the second announcement which removed Portugal from the green list, the hotel industry reported an avalanche of cancelled or postponed bookings, leaving hoteliers wondering how they would fill the sudden rush of vacancies.
From June 4 the Irish will also be able to travel to Madeira without needing to go into quarantine on their return to Ireland.