Holidays to the Caribbean in just SIX weeks?

British holidaymakers could be allowed to visit the Caribbean islands in as little as six weeks as Boris Johnson prepares to open up travel to countries with the best vaccination rates.

The Prime Minister is expected to unveil a roadmap for the return of non-essential travel on Monday following months of restrictions introduced in a bid to avoid the spread of mutant Covid-19 variants. 

Downing Street sources have claimed Mr Johnson will not commit to reopening travel to popular European holiday spots due to fears of a third wave of the virus, which has seen infection rates surge in Italy, France, Germany and Poland.

These destinations will likely be out of reach until at least August, but Mr Johnson’s framework will not rule out the possibility that some international travel could resume from May 17.      

Areas with good vaccination rates and a low risk for certain strains of the virus could be early options for eager British holidaymakers. 

The first destinations to reopen may include the Cayman Islands, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda and Barbados due to advanced vaccination programmes on the Caribbean islands.

Others tipped to be at the front of the queue include Gibraltar, Israel, the Seychelles, Dubai, Malta, the Maldives and Singapore. 

It has also been suggested that travel to the US could soon reopen for those who have been vaccinated. 

However, Mr Johnson is expected to tell Britons to hold off on booking holidays until the situation is clearer. All non-essential overseas travel is currently banned under Covid-19 restrictions, with fines of £5,000 for those who do not follow the rules. 

The latest update comes as it emerged families could be forced to fork out hundreds of pounds for Covid-19 tests to go on foreign holidays this summer if travel bans on some countries are lifted by the Government.    

Under the Government’s traffic light system, each traveller will have to take at least two tests on holidays to low-risk ‘green’ destinations, potentially costing at least £600 per family.

One would be taken 72 hours before boarding a UK-bound flight with another two days after arrival. The latter would be for detecting whether travellers have picked up any mutant strains while abroad.

It comes as: 

• Hundreds gathered in street parties as Britain recorded the lowest number of Covid cases since September   
• Pakistan, Kenya, Bangladesh and the Philippines are put on Britain’s travel ‘red list’ but not for seven days
• Boris Johnson offers to set a ‘time limit’ on vaccine certificates to answer critics’ fears on civil liberties
• Vaccine centres are urged to make the most of Easter weekend by critics who warn ‘the virus doesn’t sleep’
• Care home residents will be allowed to have two visitors from April 12 enabling to see their grandchildren  

Last night it was claimed that people who have had two doses of the vaccine could avoid quarantining when returning from a medium-risk ‘amber’ country.

Those who are fully vaccinated may only have to have one test upon arriving back in the UK, the Daily Telegraph reported, compared with multiple tests and a ten-day quarantine for the unvaccinated. It was also claimed that vaccinated holidaymakers could return to the UK from a green list county without having to do a test.

A government source said: ‘For amber countries, you would remove home quarantine. The debate is whether there will be any testing required instead of quarantine.’ 

There could be as few as 12 countries on the government ‘green list’ for quarantine-free travel initially, with more travel options potentially delayed until July or August. 

Hesitancy towards the vaccine across parts of mainland Europe may mean that traditionally favoured continental destinations among British holidaymakers are deemed more high-risk than the likes of the US and Israel, where vaccination rates are good.

Plans under consideration by the Government’s global travel taskforce could mean holidaymakers who have been fully vaccinated will be able to return from ‘green list’ countries back to Britain without any tests on arrival, as long as they have negative results from a test taken before they left. 

Those who have not been vaccinated would require another test when they get back to the UK.

Fully vaccinated travellers from countries on the ‘amber list’ might need just one further test upon arrival, and avoiding the 10-day home quarantine.  

But those who have not been vaccinated would still need to self-isolate for 10 days, being tested on days two and eight.   

Travel bans will be in force for ‘red list countries’, and Britons who return from them will have to quarantine in hotels, costing up to £1,750 per person, also being tested on days two and eight.  

Studies submitted to ministers considering how to unlock foreign travel show two-test systems are more effective at controlling the spread of infection.

But arranging pre-departure tests abroad could prove a logistical nightmare and alone add at least £400 to the cost of a holiday abroad for a family of four.

The second post-arrival test could put on a further £200.

Destinations are also likely to retain demands for a pre-holiday test to be shown at the border for people not fully vaccinated, potentially adding hundreds more pounds to the cost of a getaway.

Although ten-day post-arrival quarantine would be dropped for holidaymakers arriving from ‘green’ destinations, many families will be put off by the additional costs and hassle of arranging the tests.

It is understood the pre-departure test before boarding a UK-bound flight may even apply to fully vaccinated people.

Croatia yesterday became the latest country to announce Britons would be welcome this summer.

But unvaccinated visitors will have to show a pre-holiday test taken within 48 hours upon entry.

Holidaymakers staying for two weeks would be required to take a second test by the tenth day.

It means unvaccinated tourists on longer stays would face having to take four tests in total even if the country makes it on to the Government’s green list.

Boris Johnson is set to confirm plans for a staged lifting of the ban on foreign holidays on Monday, with a further announcement in the following weeks explaining how the scheme will work.

He will set out the rough framework of the traffic light system.

The PM will say it is too early to set a date for when it will come into operation, but Whitehall sources said he will not completely rule out the possibility some travel could resume on May 17.

A Government source said: ‘It is still too early. At the moment, we have vaccinated half of the adult population but we still don’t know how strong our wall of defence is until we see more of the data.

‘We are not going to do anything that threatens the roadmap and will take a cautious approach until we better understand the impact of the vaccines.’ 

Only destinations with high vaccination rates, low prevalence of mutant variants with good capabilities for detecting them and low infection rates are likely to make it on to the green list. 

By May 17, only a handful of countries – if any – are likely to be designated green.

The US, Maldives and Malta are among the contenders due to their higher vaccination rates. All three have rates of about 45 per 100 people. By comparison the UK’s vaccination rate is 53 per 100 people.

Other possible destinations are Gibraltar, Israel, the Seychelles and the United Arab Emirates.

Some Caribbean destinations could also become contenders if their vaccination drives continue at pace.

But quarantine-free holidays to traditionally popular destinations such as Greece, Italy and Spain may be some way off amid the EU’s sluggish vaccine rollout.

The countries’ vaccination rates are all around 17 per 100 people. Most of the Continent is likely to be ‘amber’ until July or August.

It came as travel industry leaders warned failure to reopen for the summer would put more than a million jobs at risk and could stall the post-pandemic recovery.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: ‘We have to start somewhere – for the sake of jobs, the billions our sector provides the Treasury and any realistic concept of a Global Britain future.’

But a senior scientist has warned that international travel should reopen slowly, with any traffic-light system having the potential to be ‘leaky’ to Covid variants.

Professor Robin Shattock, head of mucosal infection and immunity at Imperial College London’s department of medicine, said an ideal scenario would be for people to quarantine when they return from any country – though this was unlikely to be seen as a practical option.

In a wide-ranging interview, he said it was possible coronavirus will become ‘much more of a fairly trivial infection’ for most people while it was still uncertain whether the entire population would need to be vaccinated again each winter.

The travel taskforce set up by Boris Johnson is due to report shortly, with many expecting it to propose a traffic-light approach.

This ranks countries red, amber or green depending on infection rates and the prevalence of Covid-19 variants in overseas destinations.

Prof Shattock said: ‘I suspect there will be pressure to start international travel again, probably still with self-isolation/quarantining when you come back to the UK.

‘There may be some implementation of a scheme where if you’ve had the vaccine you’re allowed to travel.

‘I don’t know that it will necessarily be mandated by governments, but it may well be mandated by different carriers.

‘Or you may find that different governments around the world put in place requirements so it may not be that the UK says you can’t travel without a vaccine, but if you’re going to a holiday destination they might say, ‘well we’re opening it up to people who have been vaccinated’.

‘It’s a very fluid picture. I’m sure that, over time, we will start to return to international travel.

‘I think it’s going to be slow, I think it’s going to be cautious and I don’t think it’s likely to take off in a big way until at least the autumn when everybody has had hopefully one, if not two, doses of a vaccine.’