Holidays: Simon Calder predicts new UK green list countries

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The travel expert listed a number of countries he believes will, or should be, added to the list in his “holiday quarantine bingo”.

Appearing on the BBC, he said: “If you want to play holiday quarantine bingo, on my card – besides Malta, I’ve got Madiera, Cuba may be possible.”

He went onto list a numher of European island destinations.

“A handful of Greek islands,” he said. “They are Corfu, Kethalonia, Lesbos, Santorina and Zante.

“On top of that it may well be, we mentioned the Baleric Islands, Minorca, Mayorca and Ibiza.”

However, he listed one reason he fears not all of these holiday destinations will be added to the list.

Simon said: “But the trouble is that would hugely increase the number of people travelling.

“In Government there’s an attitude of ‘don’t you know there’s a pandemic on?’

“‘Air travel started all this, public health has to be defended as the first prioriy, we’ll open things when when we’re good and ready.'”

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However, there are dire warnings from within the travel industry.

Simon went on: “The pilots’ union said to me yesterday at an event, we are reaching the point of no return for summer, unless we get large scale destinations, France, Spain, Italy, whatever, on the green list and open up and atleast tell people ‘look, you will be able to have a holiday in July or August’, it’s simply going to be too late.”

The expert claimed the Government “will have to” open up, based on the data.

He said: “I think they will have to because all the evidence, of course, is that the infection rate in the UK currently is so high you and I would almost certainly be safer, less likely to get an infection, on a beach in Greece or Spain or Italy or France than we would be in the UK,” the travel expert said.

He went on: “However, the Government doesn’t quite do things like that.

“They are looking at the case rates, they are also looking at variants of concern, vaccinations rates and genomic sequencing capabilities.

“Put all that together, I cannot see any reason why Malta would not be added to the green list today.”

British holiday makers wait to see what the Government will announce later today.

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