Holiday

As anyone who has booked a holiday or is thinking about booking a holiday will know, going abroad right now is a bit like playing roulette – it’s hard to know whether your destination will still be on the government’s travel corridors list by the time you go.

If a country or region is struck off this list, you have to quarantine for two weeks on return. This weekend, we had the mad scramble from Austria and Croatia, while France and Malta were among the destinations hit last week.

Even if quarantine isn’t an issue, you might still face the problem of insurance – most providers don’t offer cover for destinations on the FCO’s no-go list, and that list is becoming increasingly aligned with the travel corridors list.

As soon as a destination is on the FCO’s no-go list, most travel insurance is invalidated if you choose to travel, which means you won’t have cover if your flight is delayed or if you might need medical assistance.

But now, a growing number of insurers are getting wise to the fact that people want to travel anyway and they might be prepared to pay a bit more for insurance cover.

Companies like Staysure and Holiday Extras are teaming up with an insurer called Battleface, which normally provides cover for destinations such as Afghanistan, to offer travel insurance for countries currently on the FCO’s no-go list, including France and Spain.

You still have to quarantine when you get back, but at least you know if anything goes wrong, you should be covered within the terms and conditions of your policy – just make sure you read the small print carefully.