The UK's largest travel operator Tui has reported a sharp jump in demand for holidays this winter as more people defer their holidays.
As of 2 May, bookings this year for winter 2021/22 breaks were up 17% on the same period in 2019.
But total summer bookings were down 69% due to continued uncertainty over travel rules.
Nevertheless, TUI said it expected the safe return of holidays in the coming months.
"The continued vaccination progress across our key customer markets and destinations, combined with more testing, and comprehensive hygiene measures throughout our eco-system, should enable the safe return to holidays this summer," it said.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, third lockdown and travel restrictions, Tui's revenues dived by 89% to €716m (£614.6m) in the six months to March.
Meanwhile its losses widened to €1.5bn (£1.3bn).
However, TUI said customers were keen to travel once Covid restrictions were fully lifted.
Nearly three times as many Britons have decided to book with the travel giant for the summer of 2022 compared with 2019.
And while bookings for summer 2021 are down, 2.6 million customers are due to take holidays, although some of these were re-bookings.
The travel operator said it was focused on reopening a portfolio of destinations strong vaccination coverage and low incidence rates, including the Greek islands, the Balearics, the Canaries and Portugal.
'A lot riding on the government'
"The flight paths out of the crisis have begun to be mapped out for the world's largest travel and tourism operator, but the damage caused by the harsh rays of Covid run deep," said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
She added that "a lot is still riding on" the government giving consumers approval to travel, as well as setting up both vaccine and testing passports.
The travel industry says several government policies in recent months are preventing the industry from recovering and costing jobs.
One point of contention was the fact that travellers are required to take a package of tests, including at least one PCR test and one lateral flow test.
Consumer group Which? found that, on average, just one PCR test costs £120 per person.
In response, several tour operators and airlines announced subsidised testing packages to entice travellers back into the air, including Tui, EasyJet, Jet2 and British Airways.
Some European countries that are reliant on British tourists have also been upset by the UK's narrow list of approved countries.
On Wednesday, Spain's foreign minister, Arancha González Laya, told BBC Breakfast that the UK should take a regional approach when deciding which places should be on the green list.
"We are having a good discussion with the UK authorities to convince them that there are many regions in Spain - Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Valencia - where the numbers are equivalent to those in the UK today," he said.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiLGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL2J1c2luZXNzLTU3MDg0NzMy0gEwaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYnVzaW5lc3MtNTcwODQ3MzIuYW1w?oc=5
2021-05-12 10:20:51Z
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