Travel news latest: Ireland to lengthen quarantine for unvaccinated Britons

Green destinations such as Gibraltar and Iceland have seen a spike in demand as Britons rush to make the most of the meagre quarantine-free travel list.

The number of seats sold for flights to Gibraltar rose by 115 per cent in the first week of June compared to the previous week, according to data from Skyskcanner, The Times reports. There was also a 40 per cent increase in demand for flights to Iceland.

Carriers have announced additional services to both destinations – British Airways, easyJet, Wizz Air and Eastern Airways have added new flights to Gibraltar, while Icelandair will increase the number of daily services between the UK and Iceland from one to two in July. It will also add new direct flights from Gatwick and Manchester later this summer.

These bookings figures follow warnings from UK ambassadors that Britain is unlikely to open up travel to major European holiday destinations until the beginning of August. Mario Draghi, the Italian Prime Minister, also warned that British tourists could face quarantine on arrival due to concerns about the number of cases of the Delta variant in the UK.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow health secretary, is among those who have criticised the Government for failing to shut off travel from India, where the Delta variant was first detected, earlier. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the traffic light system for travel should be “collapsed”.

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8:34AM

Most insurance policies will not cover self-isolation without Covid

Two-thirds of travel insurance policies will not pay out if holidaymakers are required to self-isolate without contracting Covid, an investigation has found.

The research, by consumer group Which?, found that 172 out of 263 policies that they analysed did not cover travellers for cancelling in the event of needing to self-isolate without having a positive Covid test result.

According to the investigation, only two of the 263 travel insurance policies provide “complete” cover for Covid disruption.

These were HSBC Select and Cover and Barclays Travel Pack, but they were only available to customers of the two banks and could only be bought alongside other insurance products.

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8:21AM