LONDON – Yesterday (April 5th), the UK Prime Minister said “we’re not there yet” when speaking of plans for international travel. Despite that Jet2 reports confidence in summer holidays abroad is “through the roof”.
The earliest foreign holidays can be taken for UK citizens is 17th May. The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said yesterday “Obviously we are hopeful that we can get going from 17th May, we are hopeful.
“But I do not wish to give hostages to fortune or to underestimate the difficulty we are seeing in some of the destination countries people might want to go to. “We don’t want to see the virus being reimported into this country from abroad.”
Jet2 report increase in summer bookings
Despite the UK banning international travel until at least 17th May, many Brits are booking their summer holidays abroad.
According to Jet2 confidence in the ability to travel is “through the roof”, tourinews.es reported. A study by Jet2 revealed 52% of its users would be happy to book a trip abroad for this summer.
Many countries announced they would welcome British tourists “with open arms”. This increased user confidence and Jet2 saw an increase in bookings which continued throughout March.
The increase in reservations meant the British airline increased its seats for this summer to some destinations, including Spain.
UK proposes traffic light system
Whether the PM’s reluctance to confirm international travel from 17th May will affect those bookings, only time will tell.
Under the traffic light system, assessments will be based on different criteria. They are: the proportion of a country’s population which has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants and the country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.
Much depends on the destination country’s vaccination programme and infection rates. Today, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated by “the end of August” 33million Spanish will have been vaccinated. This is promising news for Spain making the green list.
Travellers arriving from countries rated “green” will not have to isolate. They will, however, require pre-departure and post-arrival tests. For people coming from countries classed as “amber” or “red”, arrivals will have to isolate or enter quarantine.
Government advises against booking summer holidays
Mr Johnson said they would release any plans “well before” 17th May. He added: “I know that people watching will want to know exactly what they can do from 17th May but we’re not there yet.”
A UK government document released yesterday says: “For the moment, the government advises people not to book summer holidays abroad until the picture is clearer.”
