THE 'green list' of countries holidaymakers will be able to visit without quarantining on return is set to be released in the next few hours.

The government is set to publish the list during a 5pm press conference but there is speculation it could include Portugal, Malta, Gibraltar and Israel.

Summer favourites such as Spain, France, Italy and Greece are expected to be on the amber list initially.

Overseas leisure travel from the UK is banned under coronavirus rules, but that is set to change with May 17 being the earliest that overseas leisure travel will be allowed for people in England under Boris Johnson’s road map for easing restrictions.

The rules on returning to England will depend on where you have been. Destinations will be categorised as red, amber or green, with different quarantine and testing requirements.

A visit to a green country will mean those returning do not need to self-isolate, and will only need one post-arrival test.

People entering England from an amber country must quarantine at home for at least five days, and take a minimum of two post-arrival tests.

Those returning from a red list country must stay in a quarantine hotel for 11 nights at a cost of £1,750.

The government say assessments on which colour a country will be placed in with be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a country’s population that has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants, and the country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.

There has also been speculation about the use of Covid passports. As it stands destinations are likely to require holidaymakers to show evidence they have received a coronavirus vaccine or taken a recent negative test.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who is set to hold the press conference, has confirmed that people in England will be able to display their status using the NHS app - but there are doubts over whether it will be ready for May 17.

Meanwhile TUI, the UK's largest travel operator, has said prices for summer breaks have not been ramped up ahead of the government’s announcement.

TUI’s managing director for the UK and Ireland, Andrew Flintham, said it will be “a long time” before travel companies can consider boosting profit margins.

He told the BBC: “Our prices are very, very stable. They’re pretty much like for like, flat, year over year. There isn’t a big increase in there.

“We’ve got plenty of holidays to sell. I think everybody in the industry has.

"It’ll be a long time before the idea of trying to increase prices to make more money."