Travel: Balearics become an ‘amber’ destination. Traffic light rating changes for Spanish holiday hotspot

IBIZA, Majorca, Menorca and Formentera are being moved to the government’s amber travel list for England on Monday – Scotland and Wales will do the same – and Northern Ireland is likely to follow.

It means anyone aged over 18 who is not fully vaccinated must quarantine on their return from any ‘amber’ destination.

The Balearics were only added to the green list a fortnight ago but Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said cases of Covid-19 had doubled since and the government needed to “move quickly”.

He warned travellers heading abroad this summer needed to make sure they could get refunds or rebook holidays; he said: “No one can be out there thinking we can travel and just rely on things not changing.”

Package holiday firm Tui complained of the “continued lack of transparency” over the reasons and data behind changes, making it “incredibly difficult” for customers to book in advance with confidence.

And EasyJet said it could not understand why people could go to nightclubs from July 19 – so-called ‘Freedom Day’ – without a mask or social distancing while the government was “not comfortable with people going to the beaches of Europe where the infection rates are lower than the UK.”

Written by BayRadio