More People Book Holiday Now as Covid Quarantine Rules Relax

Flight bookings are surging as more people decide to book a holiday abroad now that Covid rules are changing from 19 July. Fully vaccinated travellers from amber list countries will no longer need to self-isolate on their return.

A lot more destinations in the world have just opened up to those lucky enough to have received their jabs. Airlines report a rapid increase in ticket sales within hours of the government announcing the relaxation of quarantine rules. Easy Jet say they saw a 400% increase in bookings to countries on the amber list.

Analysts do not expect the influx of bookings to cause an increase in flight and holiday prices, and have seen no evidence of it yet. In fact, they think some prices may reduce as companies add extra capacity.

However, travel agents’ association Abta say prices could increase “as more people book” a holiday, because the industry is “led by supply and demand”. Although there are currently “very good value deals on offer”.

Meanwhile, consumer service Which? say previous data shows holiday prices stayed the same or went down following government green-list announcements. Prices did not go up. And so far, there are no major price increases to popular locations on the amber list.

Which? are tracking flight prices to Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal during the peak holiday season in August. Out of the 14 package holidays, 12 of them remained the same price and two increased. Although four of the six flights rose in price, it was an average fare increase of £7.

Slow recovery from the pandemic

Government rules requiring people to quarantine on return to the UK has led to many choosing not to holiday overseas. This has hindered the travel industry’s ability to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Previous travel rules meant people returning to the UK from top holiday destinations Spain, France, the US and Italy needed to self-isolate for up to 10 days.

The new rule changes apply only to destinations on the amber list. There is no change to restrictions for people travelling to red list countries.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps adds that even though rules on self-isolation are relaxed, travellers are still required to take Covid tests. They must do one test prior to arrival, and then a second on or before day two. Children under the age of 18 are also exempt from self-isolation rules, but must take tests.

Mr Shapps says the government are working on ways to extend exemption to arrivals from vaccinated people in other countries. This is complicated though because other countries use different systems. And any vaccinated person must have received doses of a vaccine that is approved by the World Health Organization. It may be easier to sort something out for EU arrivals because they are creating a digital passport.

Vaccination is the key to opening travel, as in effect, most of Europe has now turned green for people who have received two doses. However, there is still one obstacle in the way. Having to take expensive PCR tests when visiting green and amber list destinations could result in travel being only available to the wealthy.

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