UK minister says Brits should avoid foreign travel this year

George Eustice has said Brits should not travel abroad this year unless absolutely necessary.

women wearing facemask looking out of train window

The UK environment minister has told Sky News he would advise Brits to holiday at home this year and visit the ‘great places’ closer to home instead.

It comes as the latest blow for holidaymakers after Portugal was taken off the green list last week.

Eustice said: “There are very few countries on the green list and our advice has always been ‘don’t travel unless it’s absolutely necessary’. Obviously we had hoped, with these three (traffic light) categories, that the situation would be improving in other parts of the world and that we’d be able to progressively add other countries to the green list.

“Sadly that’s not the situation, we do have this new variant of concern first identified in India that is now cropping up in other countries, and we’ve just got to take a very cautious approach.”

The MP said that people can still travel to countries on the green list if they wish to, but need to ‘understand there are risks in doing so’.

UK green list countries

Right now, countries on the UK’s green list are as follows:

Australia
Brunei
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar, Iceland
Israel and Jersusalem
New Zealand
Singapore
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands
St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

If you’re thinking of visiting any of the above countries, however, it might not be as easy as you think. Visitors to Brunei will need to isolate for anywhere between two and 14 days, while Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore aren’t allowing UK residents to enter at all.

‘Stay at Home’ summer

Eustice added that he would be staying at home this year and had no intention of a trip abroad.

If you’re looking for UK holiday ideas, why not take a trip to the Lake District? We’ve shared some of the best things to do in the Lakes here.

Ann Holmes

Adventure Pending Co-Founder. Freelance journalist and travel YouTuber @FarFromHolmes.

Reading in a hurry?

Environment minister George Eustice says Brits should avoid foreign travel this year
Holidaymakers should enjoy ‘great places’ the UK has to offer
Travel to countries on the green list might not be as easy as you think