Fully vaccinated UK residents arriving in England from amber travel list destinations will not need to quarantine from 19 July.
However, they’re still going to have to buy Covid tests before and after their return, the transport secretary said.
Grant Shapps told MPs that under-18s coming back from amber list places would even be exempt from quarantine.
Travel industry leaders said the change was a “positive step” but involved the amber list to be expanded.
Currently, anyone coming back from countries on the amber or red list must be isolated for 10 days, no matter vaccine status.
Mr Shapps said a full vaccination means “14 days have passed since your final dose of the vaccine” – and only vaccines given by the NHS will count.
But he said officials were “working to increase our approach to vaccinating passengers from important markets and holiday destinations, later this summer, like the US and therefore the EU”.
Fewer than 30 destinations are on the green list – meaning travellers don’t need to self-isolate once they revisit the united kingdom , while quite 50 countries are on the strictest red list, which needs arrivals to pay to self-isolate during a hotel.
But most places – including holiday hotspots like mainland Spain, Greece and therefore the US – are on the amber list.
The next review of the countries on the green, red and amber lists will happen on 15 July.
Speaking later, the transport secretary told the BBC: “We had the selection of simply saying people would never be ready to travel until every single last person had been vaccinated – or a minimum of beginning to open things up.”
Mr Shapps said testing was “important to stay people safe” and stop variants arriving within the UK, but denied the claims would still price-out many families.
The government website lists nearly 400 providers completing the tests fully vaccinated travellers would wish to require on their return. Prices begin at £2.49, with the bulk within the £50-£100 price range.
The ministry , which issues travel advice that’s independent from the government’s traffic signal system and will affect travel insurance, is stressing that not all amber countries are going to be approved for international travel on 19 July.
However, it’s updated its approved list and it now has several amber list countries including France, Greece, Morocco, Switzerland, the US, Jamaica and mainland Spain.
Today’s announcement may be a big change, opening up international travel much more significantly than has been possible this year. However, there are limitations.
This policy only applies to those jabbed within the UK, meaning those jabbed abroad will still need to quarantine if coming from an amber list country.
That will affect some family and friends hoping to reunite and impact on businesses that believe international visitors who won’t see those customers return within the same numbers as UK travellers will leave.
Tests are still required from green and amber list countries. the value will dissuade someone from travelling.
Crucially, this rule is simply about what happens when people visit the United Kingdom . Whether other countries will let UK travellers in may be a different matter altogether.
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Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, the industry body representing UK-registered carriers, said the rule change was a “positive move towards the real reopening the world has been looking for”.
John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Heathrow, welcomed the change but said: “The UK should open up visit fully vaccinated people from more countries – particularly our key partners within the US – by the end of July.”
However, MP Caroline Lucas – vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus, said the government was “in danger of repeating an equivalent mistake that allowed the Delta variant to require root within the UK”.
Katherine Wood, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, won’t get a second jab until the end of August and told the BBC the government changes were frustrating for children who had already sacrificed a “huge amount” during the pandemic.
The 26-year-old said: “They should have waited until the overwhelming majority of individuals , particularly children , had been double-vaccinated before changing any rules because I actually feel quite disenfranchised by what’s happened.”
