Chairman Chris Rowles said destinations such as Algeria, Belarus, Djibouti, Liberia and Congo, which had non-essential advice lifted against travel on Covid-19 grounds by the FCDO along with Fiji, Gambia and Malaysia on Wednesday (6 October), are "not destinations on the majority of holidaymakers’ lists". 

"Is this a joke in extremely poor taste?," he added. 

"The ivory towers in which the FCDO is based, remote from the real world, might have given them altitude sickness – how else to explain such a singularly bonkers statement?

“Gambia is one of the few places on the list within a five/six-hour flight to which holidaymakers might reasonably travel for winter sunshine; the rest are extremely long-haul, challenging journeys which simply won’t merit a tick on the majority of travellers’ wish lists."

Aito called on the Department for Transport and the FCDO to align in the decision making process to add some more "palatable" destinations to the approved list.