Spain, Greece and Italy remain on amber list

The government has updated its traffic light lists for travel

Spain has remained amber (David Ramos/Getty Images)

European holiday favourites Spain, Greece, Italy and France have all remained amber after the government updated its travel traffic light lists.

The Department for Transport (DfT) announced the first review of its green, amber and red lists on 3 June, with the changes due to come into effect next week.

Though the travel industry hoped a number of tourism destinations would be added to the green list, which carries the lightest restrictions for inbound travellers arriving in the UK, no new countries made the cut.

Worse still, Portugal, the only mainstream holiday destination accessible for British tourists to originally make the green list, has been downgraded to amber.

The green list is now comprised of 11 places in total.

Most popular European destinations remain in the amber category, which means arrivals must self-isolate for 10 days upon entry into the UK, plus take PCR tests on days two and eight. In England, travellers can pay for an extra Covid test on day five of self-isolation and leave quarantine if it is negative.

The government currently only advises travelling internationally for leisure purposes to green list countries; however, it remains perfectly legal to go on a foreign holiday to amber or indeed red list destinations.

Although mainland Spain and Greece weren’t expected to make the switch, experts believed the government might take an “islands approach” and move some Greek holiday islands and the Balearics to the green list - but holidaymakers’ hopes were dashed in the latest review.

On the other end of the spectrum, seven countries all plunged from amber to red: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Costa Rica, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Trinidad & Tobago.

The list of 50 red list countries come with the harshest restrictions, with returning travellers forced to pay £1,750 for 11 nights in a government-mandated quarantine hotel. The price includes an airport transfer, all meals and two PCR tests to be taken on day two and day eight.

Currently, only those with British residency are allowed into the UK from red list countries.