Two thirds would not travel if destination moved to amber from green

A snap poll of more than 5,000 UK adults has found that more than four in ten Brits ‘definitely would not’ go on holiday to a destination that moved from the government’s green list to amber.

YouGov’s poll, conducted on Friday after the government’s decision to move Portugal from green to amber, found that 43% of respondents would not continue with their booked holiday plans.

In comparison, only 5% of respondents said they ‘definitely would’ take a holiday to a country if it moved from green to amber; 13% ‘probably would’; 25% ‘probably would not’ and 14% said they ‘don’t know’ whether they would go or not.

That means that more than two thirds of people either definitely would not or probably would not go ahead with travel plans to countries moving from green to amber.

Broken down by age, the data showed that over-65 were even more unlikely to holiday to amber list destinations, with 61% saying they definitely would not and 20% probably would not, compared to 3% who definitely would, 7% who would and 10% who don’t know.

The 50-65 age group were slightly more cautious than the overall average, with 49% saying they definitely wouldn’t go, 22% saying they probably wouldn’t go, 11% saying they probably would, 5% saying they would and 13% undecided.

Younger respondents were more likely to go ahead but were still less likely to go than go to a destination moving from green to amber.

Of the 25-49 age group, 35% said they definitely wouldn’t go and 28% said they probably wouldn’t travel while 16% said they probably would, 6% definitely would and 16% didn’t know.

And the youngest category, the 18-24-year-olds, were the most likely to go, with 8% saying they definitely would and 22% saying they probably would. However, 31% said they probably wouldn’t, 22% said they definitely wouldn’t and 18% said they didn’t know.

Women were more cautious than men on the whole, with 47% saying they definitely wouldn’t go, 23% probably not, 11% probably would and 4% definitely would while 14% didn’t know.

Of the male respondents, 38% definitely wouldn’t go, 26% probably wouldn’t, 15% probably would, 6% definitely would and 14% didn’t know.

The data was also broken down by region, showing those based in London were slightly less cautious than in the rest of the UK.

*The data was conducted on Friday, June 4, 2021, with responses from 5,109 UK adults.