Why is Dubai on the red list?

The United Arab Emirates has vaccinated around 82 per cent of its population and is one of the top ranked nations for vaccine rollout globally

Dubai will remain on the UK’s “red list”, following the government’s latest update to its travel traffic light system on 14 July.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) city-state attracted a record 16.7 million tourists in 2019, with British holidaymakers the third most popular visitors after Indian and Saudi travellers.

Brits returning from red countries are subject to the harshest rules, and must pay for an 11-night package at a mandated quarantine hotel, at a cost of £1,750 per solo traveller.

While it was hoped that some destinations might move from red to amber in the latest reshuffle, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), both beloved by British travellers, remain stuck on red.

The red list has now grown to 60 countries, with Indonesia, Cuba, Myanmar and Sierra Leone demoted in Wednesday’s announcement.

But why is Dubai on the red list and will it move to amber any time soon?

Here’s everything you need to know.

Why is Dubai on the travel red list?

The Dubai Marina skyline (Getty Images)

While most places end up on the red list due to spiralling Covid infection rates and/or a high prevalence of virus variants of concern, some destinations, such as the UAE, are classified as red purely because they are international aviation hubs.

With thousands of travellers passing through the UAE daily on connecting flights, the UK government has argued it would be nigh on impossible to determine whether arrivals had originated from a red list country.

When will Dubai come off the red list?

It’s difficult to speculate, although it’s unlikely that Dubai’s red status will change anytime soon due to it being such a major transport hub.

The UK government is reviewing the traffic light system every three weeks, with the next announcement expected to take place on 4 August.

What is the current state of Covid-19 in Dubai?

An aerial view of Dubai Palm Jumeirah island, United Arab Emirates (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Infection rates in the UAE are actually decreasing, with 1,528 new infections reported on average each day.

To date, there have been 1,880 coronavirus-related deaths in the country since the start of the pandemic.

The country has vaccinated around 82 per cent of its population and is one of the top ranked nations for vaccine rollout globally.

According to Dubai Tourism, the emirate welcomed more than 1.7 million visitors between July and December 2020, and a further two million visitors in the first five months of 2021.

What have the authorities said about Dubai?

In April, Grant Shapps told an online ConservativeHome event that this issue was one of transit.

He said: “We are not restricting UAE because of levels of coronavirus in the UAE.

“The specific issue in the UAE is one of transit. It’s because they are a major transit hub.

“The Joint Biosecurity Centre can work wonders studying all this detail, but eventually you get to the point where they are having to make too many assumptions about where people are travelling to/from.

“And that is specific issue we have with the UAE as opposed to prevalence or some other reason.”

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and chairman of the executive council of Dubai, said: “Dubai’s ability to implement a rigorous precautionary protocol regime has made the city one of the world’s safest destinations for travellers.”

Elsewhere, Issam Kazim, chief executive of the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said in May that the destination’s red status was a “frustration”.

“The UK was our number three market pre-Covid. It’s not actually dropped that much, but it has dropped to number five for us. It’s not where it was and we want it to get back and to be growing as well,” he told Travel Weekly.

“I know that also from a UK perspective, they [the government] has been very candid. They have said that it’s not about Dubai in general that’s the issue, it was more about the transit and so on.

“I think there are different ways for that to be tackled and I don’t think that we should stop tourists who are looking forward to visiting Dubai from visiting,” he said.

But he added: “At the end of the day, everyone is doing it for the right reasons. Everyone is trying to ensure that the remain as safe as possible for their people and for the responsibilities that they have.”