The news that the British government had promised to relook its ‘traffic-light’ travel restrictions following lobbying by the UK industry on June 23, might have briefly raised hopes for inbound tourism into Southern Africa and for South Africans wanting to go to the UK.

The nett result was only a slight adjustment of the amber list – the UK government added Malta, Madeira, the Balearics (including Ibiza) and several Caribbean countries to the green list. Travellers will be exempt from quarantine upon arrival in, or on their return to England.

At the same time several countries were moved from the amber list to the red list – Dominican Republic, Tunisia and Haiti amongst them.

Of interest were comments made by the UK Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, concerning differentiation between vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers in the future. He told the BBC that the government did intend to loosen travel restrictions for fully vaccinated UK residents. He tweeted that this would mean that later in the summer, UK residents who were fully vaccinated would not have to isolate when travelling to the UK from amber list countries. At present, the government makes no distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers.

The latest update from the government also included tighter restrictions for some destinations, with Haiti, Mongolia and Tunisia among the six countries to be moved from the amber list to the red list. This means arrivals in England from those places will be required to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days. The rest of the UK usually follows England’s lead. Israel and Jerusalem were placed on the green watchlist, meaning they are at risk of being moved to the more restrictive amber group.

Travel to amber and red list countries is discouraged by the government for both vaccinated and unvaccinated UK residents.