Summer holidays to Ibiza and Mallorca are back on the cards after they were added to the Government’s green list.
Changes have been made to the all important rules dictating where people can visit without needing to self-isolate when they return home.
The Balearic Islands – which also include Menorca and Formentera – will be added to the list from 4am on Tuesday but travellers will still need to take Covid tests upon touching down back in England.
Other places moving from the amber to the green list include Madeira, the autonomous set of islands off the coast of Portugal, Malta, Israel and ‘several UK Overseas Territories and Caribbean Islands (including Barbados)’.
Travellers arriving in England from amber locations must quarantine at home for 10 days.
Those returning from a red list country must enter a quarantine hotel at a cost of £1,750 for solo travellers.
Five million Brits visited Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca every year before the Covid pandemic.
The travel industry has said their addition could be a ‘game changer’ over the summer but also fear many have been put-off after booking holidays to Portugal they then had to cancel when it lost its green list status.
Both Malta and the Balearic Islands are currently allowing British tourists in, if they can show evidence of a negative Covid test or vaccination.
But the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for other European countries to follow her lead in placing quarantine requirements on Brits due to a rise in cases of the Delta variant, first discovered in India.
UK ministers are understood to be wary of relaxing rules of foreign travel too much because of the surge in Covid cases in the UK.
More than 16,000 new infections were recorded in the latest 24 hour period – the second day in a row that the figures have been this high.
But they’ve faced criticism for allowing events such as Euro 2020 matches at Wembley to go ahead with large crowds, including dignitaries who have flown in from abroad.
On Wednesday, the travel industry held a day of action to put pressure on the Government to reopen the sector and provide tailored financial support to businesses.
This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.