British Antarctic Territory joins green list — but there’s a catch for sun-seekers

Pitcairn Islands are 9,100 miles away and it’s -1C in the British Antarctic Territory — but you won’t have to quarantine on your return

Monday was Midwinter’s Day in the British Antarctic Territory, which has just been added to the UK travel green list (British Antarctic Survey/britishantarcticterritory.org.uk )

The Pictairn Islands and the British Antartic Territory are among the most exotic of the 16 additions to the unrestricted ‘green list’ — but the jouney might take as long as the quarantine.

Indeed, the phenomenal distance of Britain’s far-flung territories is not the only drawback: the temperature at the British Antarctic Territory’s Rothera research station on Thursday was -1C (-10C in the wind) and it has been enduring midwinter darkness for weeks.

The territory’s official website says tourism has “grown over the years,” to a peak of more than 51,000 visitors in the 2017-2018 season, no mean feat for a destination that’s part of a polar ice sheet.

Pitcairn Islands are 9,100 miles from London — but they have been added to the green list for UK travellers (Google Maps)

Other unusual new green list options are the British Indian Ocean Territory, whose islands include Diego Garcia, some 2,500 miles from Delhi, and the Pitcairn Islands, which don’t have an airport and are accessible only by a quarterly supply ship.

Pitcairn has a population of around 50, according to its government website, which says residents descend from the mutineers of British Royal Navy’s HMS Bounty and their Tahitian companions.

It enjoys an enviable climate but its tourism body has previously said all cruise ships, tour vessels and yachts will be banned until the spring of 2022.

Less adventurous sunseekers may prefer to try and reach the volcanic territory of Monserrat, in the Caribbean, which does have an airport — although the only scheduled service is to Antigua.