Families are flocking to book holidays after the Government relaxed Covid tests for fully jabbed travellers.
The chief executive of industry giant Jet2 said demand had already returned to around pre-pandemic levels, with many rushing to bag summer breaks in the sun.
Steve Heapy said the company had seen a “huge spike” in booking after this week’s announcement that pre-departure tests for fully vaccinated people would be ditched.
“People are desperate to get away, that’s been demonstrated over the past couple of days,” he said.
Other travel firms have also reported a rise in bookings.
Tour giant Tui said customers had been given the “reassurance” that travel “will once again be easier and more affordable”.
EasyJet said it had seen a near 200% jump in UK bookings, with demand to some destinations up over 400% week on week.
The budget airline, which also sells holidays, said its research had showed that “holiday starved” Britons planned to spend more money on holidays this year than ever before.
A third are aiming to splash out to £1,000 or more than usual on their holiday this year, it said.
Nearly half are planning a ‘holiday of a lifetime’ this year to make up for the past two years.
Sophie Dekkers, chief commercial officer at easyJet, said: “We know that there is pent up demand with many desperate to get away this year, which we continue to see each time restrictions are removed.”
Alistair Rowland, chief executive of Blue Bay Travel and chairman of travel body Abta, said Thursday was the busiest day, in terms of website traffic and booking inquiries, in over a year.
Demand matched that of January 2020, he said, “which is something we couldn’t have imagined a month ago, when these testing rules came in and consumer confidence plummeted”.
British Airways said searches for holidays on its website were up by nearly 40% compared to last week.
People who are fully vaccinated and those aged under 18 no longer need to take a test two days before travelling to England from countries outside the UK and the Common Travel Area.
They must take a PCR test after arriving but no longer have to self-isolate while awaiting the result.
From 4am tomorrow fully vaccinated travellers and over aged over five will be able to take a lateral flow test instead of a PCR on or before day two of their arrival in England.
Anyone who receives a positive result from a lateral flow test must self-isolate immediately and order a NHS PCR test.
However, it has been reported that Health Secretary Sajid Javid warned the relaxation of the rules risks Britain being forced into another lockdown.
He is said to have argued that it increased the danger of a more deadly and transmissible mutant strain of coronavirus than Omicron getting into the UK undetected.
The rule changes will deliver a boost to the beleagured travel industry, with Abta calling it “extremely welcome”.
Tui said last month that spending on summer holidays had surged by nearly a quarter.
Travellers are shelling out 23% more on summer breaks than before the pandemic, and 15% more on average across 2022.
But the firm insisted the big leap was due to customers booking longer and better holidays, rather than it hiking its prices.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiXWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5cmVjb3JkLmNvLnVrL25ld3Mvc2NvdHRpc2gtbmV3cy9mYW1pbGllcy1mbG9jay1ib29rLWhvbGlkYXlzLWRlbWFuZC0yNTg4ODYxMNIBAA?oc=5
2022-01-08 04:30:00Z
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