THE TRAFFIC light policy for foreign holidays has been accused of descending into "farce" with the government and companies issuing conflicting advice about where travellers can take a holiday.

The consumer organisation Which? has demanded clarity from government on its traffic light system for travel, while trade bodies accused the government of mixed messages and "moving the goalposts" on travel to amber destinations.

International travel restrictions for British holidaymakers were eased on Monday with 12 countries or territories have been given a green rating, meaning you can travel to them for tourism.

But many tourist hotspots, such as France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Croatia, are amber countries.

Scotland followed England in allowing international travel to 12 green-list destinations from this week.

The traffic light system is guidance rather than a legal requirement, and some travel companies have opted to still offer holidays to amber destinations if the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has not advised against all but essential travel.

But when you return from an amber country you have to self isolate at home for 10 days and take Covid-19 PCR tests on day two and day eight.

The row emerged after George Eustice first suggested trips to amber list countries to see friends and family was acceptable.

But then hours later Boris Johnson over-ruled his Environment Secretary by insisting such travel was not allowed.

And despite the presence of a green list comprising 12 countries and territories, health minister Lord Bethell told peers he considers all foreign travel to be “dangerous” and urged Britons to holiday at home this summer.

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It comes after news that some holiday companies are refusing refunds to amber list destinations.

Meanwhile EU ambassadors backed plans to allow vaccinated UK holidaymakers to visit the bloc this summer.

They recommended at a meeting on Wednesday that rules should be changed to allow non-essential visits into the EU by people who have had two doses of a coronavirus vaccine, a spokeswoman for the Portuguese presidency of the EU Council said.

The policy will need to be signed off by ministers of member states.

UK holidaymakers are currently prohibited from visiting several EU countries, including Spain, due to its ban on inbound leisure visits from outside the EU and Schengen Area.

The criticism came amid reports thousands of people had headed for destinations such as France, Greece, Spain and the United States – none of which are on the green list – with more than 150 flights reported to have departed on Monday when travel rules were relaxed in Britain as part of a further phase of lockdown easing.

Rory Boland of Which said: "The reopening of international travel is at risk of descending into farce with the government and companies issuing contradictory advice about where travellers can take a holiday. “The government is telling people not to travel to amber list destinations, but with many holiday firms selling trips to those countries regardless, people will assume they can. Those who feel they can not go on holiday against government advice, including those with bookings from last year, are also likely to struggle to get their money back, with most travel companies refusing refunds unless the holiday is cancelled.

"It would be completely unacceptable to see a repeat of last year's disastrous situation where millions of holidaymakers were forced to foot the bill for travel chaos caused by Covid. This year there really is no excuse - the government and holiday firms must provide clarity over what travel is safe and permitted, and ensure that people who don’t want to travel against government advice are entitled to a refund.”

The Association of British Travel Agents, the trade association for UK tour operators said the advice from ministers in recent days not to travel to amber list destinations did not tally with government’s "sensible" traffic light system which allowed for international travel to restart from May 17.

“It doesn’t make sense for the government to tell people they shouldn’t travel to amber destinations when the government itself has put a plan in place that allows them to do this in a risk managed way, with mitigations such as testing and quarantine,"

“The recent comments and mixed messages from ministers undermine the government’s own system for international travel and further erode consumer confidence.”

It added: “While we understand that public health is the priority, the government has moved the goalposts on the return to international travel.

“International travel is now legal again and the traffic light system needs to be allowed to work as originally intended.”

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said of the government's statements: “These comments are simply not correct and will cause real anger amongst the hundreds of thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on international travel, and confusion amongst families who have booked travel under the Government’s own restart policy, now less than 48 hours old.

“People should not travel to red countries we know that, but to generalise against perfectly legal travel even to green countries is deeply unhelpful.”