FCDO continues to advise against travel to Egypt and Maldives

Transport secretary Grant Shapps on Friday (17 September) confirmed eight countries – Bangladesh, Egypt, Kenya, the Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey – would be reclassified this week, with the FCDO swiftly removing the Covid-specific element of its travel advice for Turkey, Kenya and Oman.

However, the remaining five have effectively been placed off limits to travellers with an FCDO advisory against all but essential travel typically serving as the trigger that invalidates most travel insurance policies, despite no longer being red.

All eight have been moved temporarily onto the UK’s amber list, with the amber category itself set to be scrapped entirely from 4 October in a broader simplification of the traffic light regime. From 4 October, there will be just two categories – rest of the world and red.

Friday’s confirmation that Egypt and the Maldives would be removed from the red list came as a boost for the travel sector, with both destinations offering opportunities for holidaymakers deprived of their overseas summer holidays for the second year in a row to catch some late-summer sun and book ahead for winter getaways.

TTG has approached the FCDO for comment.