Dnata Travel Group, which owns Travel Republic, Travelbag, Netflights, Sunmaster and the trade-only brand, Gold Medal, has said it is “mystified” by the government’s decisions around it travel traffic light lists.

John Bevan, divisional senior vice president, said: “While we respect the fact that the government’s priority has to be public health, today’s announcement will mystify the travel industry. Thanks to the success of localised lockdowns and vaccination programmes, an increasing number of destinations meet or exceed the criteria we’re told must be met for a destination to open up.

“You begin to wonder what other agendas are in play, when decisions taken contradict the very criteria we and our customers were presented with just a few short weeks ago.

“Our industry, which is worth billions to the UK economy and employs thousands, cannot go on with this uncertainty and unpredictability indefinitely. Targeted support for what were well-run businesses has to be forthcoming. If the Government is determined to pull the rug out from under the industry like this, then it has a duty to help break the fall.”

Some 112,000 Britons are estimated to currently be on holiday in Portugal, according to the latest data.

As of 31 May (the most recent data available) 112,177 British travellers are staying in the Iberian nation

According to research from Huq Industries, a mobility research business, from 17 May, when Portugal officially became a green list country, until 31 May, a total of 221,064 Brits travelled out to the country. As of 31 May, the number of Brits who had travelled back from Portugal stood at 108,887, leaving 112,177 visitors still overseas as the country was downgraded from green to amber in the UK government’s latest review.

The changes will come into effect from 4am on 8 June; anyone arriving into the UK after that will have to quarantine for 10 days and take two PCR tests.

Conrad Poulson, chief executive officer at Huq Industries, said: “Assuming the largest capacity Boeing 737 or equivalent can carry around 230 people that equates to around 487 flights to get every one of the remaining 112,177 people home.

“When you also factor in the five-day window before Portugal goes on the amber list, this rough calculation gives a sense of the scale of the issue for holidaymakers and those charged with getting them home.”

Ministers have defended yesterday’s controversial move to downgrade Portugal to the amber list, sparking a frenzy among holidaymakers currently in the country.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick this morning defended the move, saying it “wasn’t a last-minute decision” to move Portugal off the green list.

“When we set up the system, we said that we would be reviewing the countries every three weeks, that’s what’s happened,” he told Times Radio.

Mr Jenrick said he understood “how frustrating this is both for people in Portugal and for millions of people here who would love to go on holiday”.

He told Sky News: “You should not be going on holiday to countries on either the amber or red list.

“We were also clear if you chose to go on holiday to countries that are on the green list those countries are being reviewed every three weeks, so there is always a risk with a fast-moving situation with new variants that countries might either go on to that list or indeed come off.”

Read the full story from travel editor Cathy Adams here.

Holidaymakers who thought they could safely travel to Portugal have been given 108 hours to return to the UK or face self-isolation when they return.

Dayna Brackley is a consultant who lives in London, has two children at home aged 4 and 6 and is meant to be doing the school run on Wednesday: “It all feels like a last minute scramble – I’m meant to be flying home on Tuesday afternoon and taking my kids to school on Wednesday morning.

“If it changes to amber from Tuesday morning, I’ll have to try and get someone else to do the school run while I isolate for 10 days and do all my work via Zoom again, including some important meetings – I’d only just gotten used to doing them in person again. I was also supposed to be going to the theatre with my kids to see The Smartest Giant in Town at the Little Angel in Islington on Sunday, and they’ll be really disappointed.”

Read the full story from our travel correspondent, Simon Calder, here.

As the travel industry continues to reel from yesterday’s decision to downgrade Portugal to the amber list, the country’s foreign affairs ministry has branded the move “not logical”.

The Atlantic nation will be removed from the green list from 4am on Tuesday, 8 June. Anybody arriving in the UK after that date will be required to self-isolate for 10 days at home and take two PCR tests.

The Twitter account of the cabinet of Portugal’s minister of state for foreign affairs called the decision “not logical”.

Read the full story here.

The travel industry and holidaymakers are waking up following the UK government’s decision to downgrade Portugal, the only major holiday destination on the green list, to amber.

The travel industry has reacted furiously.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of Advantage Travel Partnership, said Portugal being added to the amber travel list just weeks after the holiday hotspot reopened for British tourists was a “devastating blow”; while the Portuguese foreign affairs ministry called the decision “not logical”.