France will allow fully vaccinated Britons in for holidays from June 9

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British tourists who are fully vaccinated against Coronavirus will be able to enter France with proof of a negative antigen test from next week and do not need a ‘compelling reason’ to be in the country, it was revealed today. 

Fully vaccinated is defined as two weeks after the second dose of a jab and it is expected the NHS Track and Trace app can be used as proof.  

However, tourists with only one jab or none won’t be allowed into France without a ‘compelling reason’ to visit – and must isolate for seven days as well as provide proof of a negative test on arrival. 

It’s a blow for any families wishing to head for sunnier climes as healthy children are unlikely to receive vaccines until at least the end of summer, with the British government prioritising second doses for more vulnerable age groups.

The relaxation in requirements comes as Britain itself clamps down on travel abroad, including advising people to avoid holidaying in countries such as France and Portugal, amid fears over the Nepalese variant.

France is on the UK amber list, meaning that Britons must quarantine for ten days on their return and take two Covid tests, as well as testing negative before they depart for France. 

Last week, French officials had been threatening to force all British travellers into quarantine with the threat of fines if they were caught ignoring the rules, and the move will be welcomed by Brits who are still hoping to go abroad on holiday.   

The border opening on June 9 will also allow EU passport holders based in the UK in without any proof of testing at all, opening up the possibility of unrestricted holidays. 

A new document released in Paris on Friday called ‘Strategy for Reopening Borders’ outlines plans for what is effectively a travel passport.

Documents issued by organisations including Britain’s National Health Service which prove a double vaccination against Coronavirus will be sufficient to get into France.

Up until today, anybody entering France from the UK has required a ‘compelling reason’ for being in the country.

The acceptance by French border officials of an antigen test, as opposed to the far expensive PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) is also highly significant.

It will mean that travellers can avoid paying £100 plus to a private firm for a PCR test, and instead opt for an antigen test, which is often free.

‘Europeans vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to enter France without a PCR test from June 9, which proof of a negative test – PCR or antigen – will still be required for travellers from the United Kingdom and the United States,’ said a French government source.

‘Those who have had a full vaccination for at least fourteen days on the date of travel (and four weeks for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine) are considered to be vaccinated.’

The source added: ‘For countries classified in orange, such as the United States or Great Britain, a PCR or antigen test is required if the traveler is vaccinated, otherwise he must have a compelling reason for being in France, a negative test and go into isolation for seven days.’

Despite France effectively giving the green light for holidays, Britons travelling to France will still have to isolate for up to 10 days when they get back to the UK.

They will also have to pay for at least two tests which government recommended providers are currently charging up to £390 for.

The confused state of affairs comes amid holiday hell for Britons who travelled to green listed Portugal who now face a race to get home in less than four days time after the Government added it to the amber list over fears of the Nepal variant.

Britons keen to stay abroad for as long as they can before the new rules come in next Tuesday at 4am face paying at least £258 if they fly back home the night before. That is the cheapest flight next Monday, a Wizz Air route leaving Faro at 9.05pm local time and arriving at London Luton at 11.50pm, four hours before the rules change. 

Anyone flying back today faces paying at least £99, also for a Wizz Air flight to Luton; while it is £91 on Saturday or £172 on Sunday, both for easyJet services to Gatwick. 

The most expensive seats before Tuesday’s deadline can be found for £711 on a British Airways service from Faro to London City, leaving next Monday at 11am. 

Those returning from an amber list country will be required either to quarantine at home for ten days on their return and take a PCR test on days two and eight, as well as a lateral flow test before the return flight.

Or they can pay for an additional third ‘Test to Release’ on day five to end self-isolation early. They will still need to take the compulsory second test on or after day eight.

British families of four in Portugal now face having to pay £1,500 to buy three sets of PCR tests at £125 each, if they go under the ‘Test to Release’ scheme.

Adding this to the cost of a lateral flow test, which can be bought at Faro Airport for €30 (£25), the total cost of tests for a family of four would be about £1,600. 

Holidays to Portugal have been thrown into chaos after ministers removed it from the green list amid concerns over the new Nepal Covid variant.

The move triggered a furious diplomatic row, with Portugal’s president accusing UK ministers of ‘health fundamentalism’ and of being ‘obsessed’ with infection rates.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Portugal’s president, has accused UK ministers of ‘not recognising that we live in a different situation than we lived before vaccination’. 

Mr Rebelo de Sousa added: ‘The numbers are going up, but they are not increasing inpatients and ICU numbers and deaths. We can’t keep obsessively looking at it this way, ignoring that with vaccination, reality has changed.’  

Portugal’s infection rate is similar to the UK’s, with the rolling seven-day average being 53.63 cases per million of the population compared to the UK’s 51.41. Some 45 per cent of its adult population have received at least one dose.

But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the country’s infection rate had almost doubled since it was put on the green list three weeks ago. He added: ‘In the end we’ve seen two things that have caused concern – one thing is that the positivity rate has nearly doubled, since the last review, in Portugal.

‘And the other thing is there’s a sort of Nepal mutation of the so-called Indian variant which has been detected and we just don’t know the potential for that to be a vaccine-defeating mutation.  We simply don’t want to take the risk as we come up to June 21 and the review of the fourth stage of the [domestic] unlock.’ 

And Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said Portuguese scientists had detected the Nepal variant, adding: ‘What we don’t yet know is how prevalent it is in Portugal – but more importantly than that, whether this really is a significant problem.

‘You could of course wait whilst we do that research and then, God forbid, we learn that it is very virulent, that it does compromise our vaccines, or we can take a safety-first approach.’at this stage is the right thing to do.’

Travel bosses have accused ministers of laying waste to the industry and isolating the UK amid fears the shutdown could cost the economy more than £11billion. The shrinking of the green list, the move to downgrade Portugal and the expansion of the red list wiped £2billion off the value of airlines.