The UK traffic light system for foreign travel has no bearing on travel insurance premiums, according to money.co.uk.
Due to current Covid-19 travel restrictions, all potential holiday destinations are given a colour rating – red, amber or green.
The “colour” of a country will affect multiple aspects of travel, with quarantine times, testing requirements, and flight prices all changing depending on the classification.
Money.co.uk personal finance expert Salman Haqqi said: “There’s an assumption that going to an amber or red list country will cost you more in travel insurance, possibly because people view travel to these destinations as ‘unsafe’ or ‘at risk’.
“This isn’t necessarily the case. Country ‘colour’ has no actual impact from an insurance standpoint because the classification only affects what happens when you return to the UK, such as quarantine periods or testing rules.
“The colour classification system is designed to limit travel to countries with new and dangerous Covid-19 variants, or countries with a less sophisticated version of the track and trace programme we have in the UK.”
Mr Haqqi added: “What makes travel even more challenging to plan is that the entry and exit requirements of each country don’t correlate with the current colour coded government guidelines.
“One green or amber list country could have completely different quarantine requirements to a neighbouring country in the same classification.”
“Going back to travel insurance, the story is the same. The premium for travel to a green list country won’t be any cheaper than travel to an amber list country by virtue of it being ‘green’.
“The colour grading system just isn’t factored into the equation by travel insurance providers, meaning it’s entirely possible to pay a higher premium for green list travel than amber or red.
“Instead, insurers look at the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) guidelines to identify anything that has the potential to affect travel, and, therefore, the cost of your insurance.”
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