Britain's 'confusing' traffic light travel system is a 'complete mess', experts ...

Britain's 'confusing' traffic light travel system is a 'complete mess' and needs scrapping, experts have warned.

Travellers need 'certainty' and have 'no confidence' in how red, amber and green countries are decided by the government, they said.

They pointed out ministers are even disagreeing among themselves over the rules amid confusion over France being on the 'amber-plus list'.

Grant Shapps was despatched today to contract a claim from Dominic Raab France was hit with quarantine rules because of Covid cases on the remote Reunion island.

It sparked a furious reaction from Paris, with an ally of Emmanuel Macron raging the UK position is discriminatory and 'baffling'.

Another French MP branded the policy 'Kafka on holiday with Godot' - with critics pointing out Reunion itself is not covered by the upgraded controls.

Meanwhile Spain is believed to be at risk of being moved up the 'traffic light' system in a review next week.

This is despite double-jabbed travellers from the rest of the EU and the US being due to be exempted from quarantine from Monday.

Elsewhere Italy is reportedly not reciprocating the get-out granted by Britain to its citizens.

Vaccinated holidaymakers will still need to isolate for five days on arrival, until at least August 30.

Britain's apparent attempt to burn bridges across Europe has raised fears of an EU 'travel war' over the summer.

The chaos appears to have put Britons off from jetting off abroad, with an exclusive poll for MailOnline finding just 14 per cent will in the coming months.

Travel experts were withering of the UK's traffic light system, said it needs to be 'scrapped' and pointed the blame at the government for the confusion.

Paul Charles, CEO of The PC Agency travel consultancy, told MailOnline: 'Even government ministers are disagreeing with themselves over how to apply their own traffic light rules. The system is a complete mess.

'No-one apart from ministers seems to have confidence in how red, amber or green countries are chosen. The data is opaque, the explanations lacking.

'It's no wonder consumers are so confused when even us as analysts are sometimes left stumped by the bizarre and often panicked decision-making by government.

'It's time the system was scrapped because it has failed us all. The travel sector, and consumers, need certainty.

'The alternative should be a go/no-go simple system, without the regular weekly changes.

'Those fully-jabbed should be given the freedom to decide their own level of risk, as US citizens are.

'The Prime Minister wanted to give people back their freedom – it's time he stuck to his word when it comes to travel.'

Travel journalist Simon Calder : 'As always with travel, hope for the best but be prepared for chaos.

'But with most of the heavy Covid lifting – checking tests and forms – done by the airline at the far end, I am not expecting lines stretching for hours.'

Head of The Points Guy UK Nicky Kelvin said: 'The travel landscape for Brits wanting to head off on holiday is becoming ever more complicated.

'With the cost and availability of staycations making the option of staying at home for a break very difficult, all eyes are on trips abroad.

'There is a long list of considerations for an international trip, however. You must navigate the entry requirement of the country you want to go to.

'Some, like the USA will carve out locations like the UK and prevent entry. Most countries require some level of testing or vaccination in order to enter.

'You will then need to work out whether the place you are going is fully open. Many holiday destinations still have Covid restrictions in place such as curfews or closures of bars and clubs. Next up, and most significantly are the rules for return to the UK.

'Countries on the green, amber and red list, in addition to the so called Amber Plus list all have differing requirements.

'Within each of the lists, the rules may then change depending on whether you are vaccinated, where you received that vaccine, and where you are a citizen or resident.

'Regardless of the list, it is impossible to avoid testing and for a family the costs can be prohibitive.

'In addition to all of the above, is the huge confusion caused by the regular changing of this advice.

'This can include changes such a country moving from one list to another, to more comprehensive changes or completely new rules, such as the emergence of the ''Amber plus list'' which currently only features France, but more could be added.

'It's becoming the reality that would be travellers must make only the most flexible, or refundable bookings and ensure they are protected by comprehensive insurance.

'It has also now become more sensible than ever to wait until the very last minute to book a trip to guarantee the best protection against rule changes forcing abandonment of a holiday.' 

The decision to move France on to the amber-plus list two weeks ago led to thousands of vaccinated Britons having to self-isolate for ten days on their return.

The diplomatic spat escalated over recent days after the country was excluded from a UK quarantine exemption for travellers who have been double-jabbed in the EU.

French Europe minister Clement Beaune yesterday branded the UK's stance towards his country 'excessive and frankly baffling'.

He said: 'If I understood correctly, this is being done in the name of the famous Beta variant, the South African variant, which represents less than five per cent of cases in France, most of which are in our overseas territories that are not affected by the same flows of people towards the UK.'

In a round of interviews this morning, Mr Shapps said the decision had been down to 'overall concern' about France, not the situation on Reunion.

He told Sky News: 'The Beta variant, it's not just – as has been reported – on an island thousands of miles away.

'It was also an issue in particular in northern France, so it has been an overall concern.

'And look, the big concern is that we don't allow a variant in which somehow is able to escape the vaccine programme that we have got.'

Mr Shapps said a decision on France's status will be taken 'by this time next week' as part of the regular travel list update every three weeks.

Asked if there could be a change before then, the minister told the BBC: 'No, it's only six days away actually, so I wouldn't expect anything in advance of that, but it is the moment at which this will be looked at.'

Pushed on whether that meant no move on Spain before then, Mr Shapps said: 'That's right.

'I would encourage people to broadly ignore the sort of ongoing speculation as much as is possible.'

He added: 'One thing I have seen over the last year with all this going on is that, quite often, the speculation is not all that helpful, or all that accurate indeed.

'When we get the information from the Joint Biosecurity Centre, that's the first point at which it really becomes clarified.'

A senior government source also slapped down Mr Raab, insisting he had been wrong.

The source said: 'Ministers took this decision based on data on the prevalence of the Beta variant in mainland France.' They added: 'This data did not include La Reunion.'

Mr Raab's comments led to fresh criticism of the Government's decision, which many are hoping will be reversed next week.

Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said: 'Ministers appear to be tying themselves in knots trying to explain their decision.

'If they misinterpreted the data over cases in mainland France they need to come clean and apologise.

'It's completely unfair that holidaymakers who booked in good faith in line with the Government's own advice, have had to fork out extra for early flights, or lost income through having to isolate when they came home.

'This is why Labour has been calling for the country-by-country data informing the traffic light system to be published. The Government must do that without delay.'

The remote island of Reunion is nearly 5,800 miles away from Paris and this was pointed out during an interview with Mr Raab yesterday.

But he said: 'It's not the distance that matters, it's the ease of travel between different component parts of every individual country.'

The Beta variant is a cause for concern because it is believed to be more resistant to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

A spokesman for Brittany Ferries said: 'This is madness. It would be like France hammering British holidaymakers due to a Covid outbreak on the Falkland Islands.

'It makes you wonder if those in the centre of power have access to an atlas or a geography GCSE between them.'

Layla Moran, chairman of the all-party Parliamentary group on coronavirus, said: 'Ministers should have clear justifications for any changes made with regards to international travel.'

She added: 'This slapdash approach will only continue to undermine public confidence.'

No 10 has continued to insist the decision to place France on the amber-plus list had no relation to Reunion.

It said the Government used data which said Beta cases in mainland France stood at five per cent.

France is the only EU country from which those vaccinated under the UK programme must self-isolate for ten days when they return.

The decision is set to be reviewed next week and ministers are hopeful the country could be removed from the list.

The Government is considering replacing amber-plus with a new 'amber watchlist' to deter people from travelling to areas with high Covid rates.

The list would show which countries could change to 'red' at any moment, forcing travellers to pay £1,750 per adult to stay in quarantine hotels on their return.

There are fears Spain could be added to the amber watchlist next week due to rising cases.

Meanwhile the airline industry continued to suffer huge losses as a result of the pandemic.

IAG, the owner of British Airways, revealed more details of the huge hit it has taken over the last 16 months.

The London-listed conglomerate suffered a loss after taxation of 2billion euros in the six months to the end of June.

That was almost half the group's net loss of 3.8billion euros in the same period a year earlier, when the pandemic erupted and ravaged air travel.

Revenues were down 60 per cent at 2.2billion euros and the airline said it 'continues to be adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic together with government restrictions and quarantine requirements'.

Passenger capacity in the second quarter was only 22 per cent of its pre-pandemic level.

Looking ahead, the group plans to operate about 45 percent of its capacity in the key summer months, compared with 2019.

IAG added it remained ready to ramp up services once international travel curbs are fully lifted.

Chief Executive Luis Gallego said: 'In the short term, our focus is on ensuring our operational readiness, so we have the flexibility to capitalise on an environment where there's evidence of widespread pent-up demand when travel restrictions are lifted.

'We know that recovery will be uneven, but we're ready to take advantage of a surge in air travel demand in line with increasing vaccination rates.'

IAG was 'ready to fly as much as 75 percent of its 2019 capacity' in the final three months of this year.

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