The Foreign Office (FCDO) continues to advise against all non-essential travel to the whole of Egypt and the Maldives, even though the Government has announced they’ll come off the red ‘no travel’ list on Wednesday.
While the FCDO says it’s no longer advising against holidays in the popular tourist destinations of Turkey and Kenya, which are also coming off the red list at 4am on Wednesday, it has not changed its advice for Egypt and the Maldives.
It’s advising against travel to both destinations, ‘based on the current assessment of COVID-19 risks’.
It is also still advising against travel to Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which are also being removed from the red list, but not Oman, the eighth destination being moved from red on Wednesday.
The FCDO travel advisory means mainstream tour operators are unlikely to resume holidays to Egypt and the Maldives.
While independent travel is possible, holidaymakers will need to take out specialist travel insurance as most standard insurance policies exclude travel against Foreign Office advice.
One travel agent reported in Travel Gossip’s Facebook group that they were seeing good demand for Egypt since Transport Secretary announced on Friday that it was being removed from the red list. They said it was ‘mainly older clients’ making bookings.
However, the FCDO advice is likely to deter many clients, especially as travel insurance policies covering red destinations can be expensive and generally exclude medical cover for COVID for the over 59s.
