Greece will be added to the UK’s ‘green list’ in June allowing holidaymakers to return home from the country without quarantining, Greece’s tourism minister revealed today

Greece will be added to the UK’s ‘green list’ in June allowing holidaymakers to return home from the country without quarantining, Greece’s tourism minister revealed today. 

Haris Theoharis said he was confident Greece would go green on June 7, but added that they were ‘disappointed’ not to be on the UK’s list with Portugal from Monday, May 17.

Green list status means Britons returning from those 12 countries don’t have to quarantine but must have a negative lateral flow test in the 72 hours before they return home and a PCR test on day 2 after they get back. 

It comes as Spain announced it will not demand any British holidaymaker presents a covid passport or proof of a negative test on arrival from May 20.

But with no sign of the UK adding the country to its ‘green list’ of destinations, travellers will still have to self-isolate for ten days when they get home and at least two PCR tests.

British holidaymakers will be able to freely enter the country from next week as long as the UK’s Covid infection rate remains below 50 cases per 100,000 people.It is currently at 21.3.

Spain will remain on Britain’s ‘amber list’ of destinations until at least June 7, Falcon 900 when the Government carries out its next review, but experts are predicting it may not go green until the end of June at the earliest.

That means that any Briton heading there before then has to quarantine for 10 days at home on return and take two PCR tests on days two and eight of their self-isolation. 

Confirming free entry into Spain, tourism minister Reyes Maroto said: ‘It will allow the opening of the British market so they can come to Spain. They (Britons) could come from May 20 onwards without a PCR if the incidence rates are below the range currently under review, which is around 50 cases per 100,000 people.’

As Spain, Greece and Portugal prepare to welcome Britons, it also emerged:

• The UK will take a £19billion hit unless the ‘green list’ of countries for quarantine-free travel is expanded, MPs have warned;
• American and British airlines are begging Joe Biden and British Prime Minister to reopen transatlantic travel to save both economies and reunite families who have been separated for more than a year;
• The UK confirmed another 20 Covid deaths and 2,474 infections, as SAGE advisers U-turned on their grisly third wave estimates and slashed predictions for next year’s death toll by a factor VIP Ground Charter of 10;

Despite cases in Europe dropping as the EU sped up its ailing vaccination campaign, Matt Hancock has insisted that the UK will keep a ‘cautious’ approach to putting people on the green list when it is reviewed every three weeks. 

Yesterday British Airways caused panic for thousands of Britons rushing out to Portugal from May 17 after sending an official warning that their holiday could be illegal and they may be fined £5,000 each if they go.

The airline’s message to customers booked on to planes to Faro next week came just six days before the country is put on Britain’s ‘green list’ from Monday. 

In a message sent to passengers booked on flights from Heathrow to Faro, seen by , BA warns: ‘You can only travel internationally from England for legally permitted reasons.This does not include holidays.’

And adding to the confusion, BA has said that passengers must fill out a Declaration to Travel form, even though they are due to be axed from May 16. Failure to fill one in is punishable by a £5,000 fine and even arrest.

The message added: You may be required to show the form at the port of departure.  It is an offence to enter a port of departure or embarkation point without a properly completed form if you are travelling internationally.Some job-related exemptions apply.

‘You may be issued with a fixed penalty notice and directed to return home if you do not have a valid reason for travel.’  The confusion over guidance is bad news for BA, whose flights to the Algarve are one of its few ‘Green List’ destinations.

Last week the Foreign Office updated its official travel advice to say that they no longer advise against all but essential travel to Portugal.But the Portuguese Government is yet to update its entry requirements to match, just six days until Britons are due to start arriving on holiday. 

Yesterday MailOnline revealed that thousands of Britons will use a loophole to fly into ‘green list’ Portugal after May 17 before travelling over land to their holiday homes in Spain, France and Italy.

The opening up of flights next week has seen a rush of people planning to jet to Faro, Porto or Lisbon with nothing to stop them renting a car so they can then drive into Europe, experts say.

The land border between Portugal and Spain is open with the French border with EU countries expected to follow suit from as early as May 19, meaning British travellers will likely avoid having their passports checked. 

And Britons with second homes in Europe can travel to them if they are preparing them for sale or need to carry out urgent repairs – but with most short haul flights to France and Spain axed, people are planning alternative ways to get there. 

Online flights search engine Skyscanner has said that bookings to Portugal are already up 660 per cent per day based on a week ago – and people have taken to social media to admit they are planning to use the loophole to get to holiday homes.

Travel guru Paul Charles, founder of the PC Agency consultancy, told MailOnline: ‘I think you will see a big rush on flights to Portugal because there are hundreds of thousands of Britons with second homes in Spain, France and Spain.

‘Many won’t have visited for more than a year – and will be desperate to get away from the UK.Others may want to see family abroad. They could drive across and then sit tight until the end of June when those countries are expected to go green’.

Mr Charles has also predicted that a version of the NHS’ digital vaccine passport will be up and running by May 17, while UK and Portugal Government advice warning against travel to and from Portugal will be changed ahead of the great holiday restart in a week’s time. 

‘Holidaymakers travelling to and from Portugal will be viewed as a way to test how the travel system will work in Covid times before opening up to the rest of Europe, probably around June 21’, he said.