The UK government announced it will further relax travel rules from Monday, October 7 - opening up many long-distance holiday destinations to travellers for the first time since the pandemic pandemic a year and half ago.
As well as dramatically whittling down the number of places from which travellers will be required to quarantine in a hotel, the government said it would recognise the vaccination programmes of dozens more countries.
In its most dramatic move, it said it will be lifting the hotel quarantine requirement for arrivals to England from 47 countries, including South Africa, Mexico and Thailand.
Though the announcement only relates to England, the other nations of the UK have generally followed suit.
After the change comes into effect, there will only be seven countries - Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela - on the “red list”, which requires all passengers to enter hotel quarantine for 11 nights at a cost of £2,285.
With the nights drawing in earlier ahead of the school half-term break later this month and winter fast-approaching, the changes are likely to give a huge boost the Covid-hammered aviation industry.
“It finally feels like we are seeing light at the end of a very long tunnel,” said British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle.
“Britain will benefit from this significant reduction in red list countries and now it's time to turn our attention to eradicating testing for fully-vaccinated travelers to ensure we don't lose our place on the global stage.”
Which countries are coming off the red list? Here’s the full list:
Afghanistan
Angola
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Burundi
Cape Verde
Chile
Costa Rica
Cuba
Democratic Republic of Congo
Eritrea
Eswatini
Ethiopia
French Guiana
Georgia
Guyana
Indonesia
La Réunion
Lesotho
Malawi
Mayotte
Mexico
Mongolia
Montenegro
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
Paraguay
Philippine
Rwanda
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Suriname
Tanzania
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Uganda
Uruguay
Zambia
Zimbabwe
