Television travel expert Simon Calder has labelled the new quarantine rules a "mess" and said he would not be booking a holiday at any time soon.
The journalist addressed the new rules on This Morning after France was added to the new list of quarantine countries for the UK.
New quarantine rules come into effect at 4am tomorrow, meaning that hoards of British tourists are scrambling to get back from overseas, reports MirrorOnline.
Simon said: "The crucial thing is not being on a ferry, not driving into another country - the crucial thing is, are you back in the UK? And if the answer is no and you are in one of those countries, then I'm afraid all you can do is go home, stay at home.
"Do not even think about going out and walk the dog. You're not allowed to go out, you're just stuck there."
Stunned hosts Rochelle Humes and Alison Hammond pointed out that it was "real lockdown".
"It's much tougher than the lockdown we had, this is serious stuff," Simon said. "You're allowed to go out if you need to go to court or to get medical treatment or, heave forbid, to go to a funeral and that's it.
"Or essential shopping if there's no other way of getting it."
Simon confirmed that through a quarantine country escaped quarantine if you don't stop or anyone gets into the car or gets out.
"It's pretty tricky - the nearest point from any foreign country, I reckon, is Arkham in Germany. It's a 3 1/2 hour journey from there to Calais, you mostly go through Belgium along the way, which is another country on the no-go list.
"So you could do that. If you're not in France at the moment, you're not in the Netherlands, there is some sort of hope. But it is going to be tricky and you're going to have to follow the rules to the letter."
Asked when it will go back to normal, Simon said: "The travel industry is in absolute disarray with what I call the martini menace.
"Any time, any place, anywhere we can suddenly have quarantine imposed with not much warning at all - and that doesn't encourage future bookings, of course.
"So no, it's an absolute mess. I'm guessing by about September things might have settled down, but I'm certainly not going to be booking anything. It's a terrible time to be a traveller, a terrible time to be in the travel industry."
*This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV
