Daily Times

Top European resorts are unlikely to be added to the green list ‘before August’, foreign tourism chiefs have reportedly been told, leaving millions of Britons facing another summer without a holiday abroad.

UK ambassadors are said to have warned foreign tourism bosses that the return of British travellers to traditional holiday hot-spots such as Spain and Turkey will be pushed back until later this summer.

It comes as holiday firm TUI announced yesterday that it was axing more of its trips to top European holiday destinations up until July.

And one travel expert today warned that July was now being regarded as a ‘white-wash’ for industry bosses.

Despite this, some firms are reporting a spike in demand for flights to Gibraltar, Israel and Iceland – which are all currently on the UK’s green list.

Meanwhile, a new report by Which? today revealed how less than one per cent of travel insurances are providing ‘complete cover’ for Covid-related disruption.

And one travel expert today warned that July was now being regarded as a ‘white-wash’ for industry bosses

The latest travel set-back will be a particular blow to traditional holiday destinations – including the likes of Portugal, Greece France – which are currently on the UK’s amber list.

Toni Mayor, head of the Hosbec association of Valencia region hoteliers, said he did not expect to see the bulk of UK tourism take off until August, according to the Telegraph.

His comments come after a meeting with Hugh Elliott, who has been the UK’s Ambassador to Spain and non-resident Ambassador to Andorra since 2019.

Meanwhile, tourism chiefs in Turkey are also understood to have received a similar message, after a meeting with UK Foreign Office officials, the Telegraph adds.

The news has sparked concern within the industry. Some now fear July – one of the busiest and most profitable months of the summer holiday season – will now be a blow-out for the travel industry.

Travel expert Paul Charles, CEO of the PC Agency, said travel firms have already written off July as a return for summer holidays.

‘July is a white-wash,’ he told MailOnline.

‘Most firms are now looking beyond that, so it will be August that they will be looking at for the restart.’

Charles said the decision to push back green-listing countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal at one of the busiest points of the summer holiday season could result in ‘billions of pounds in losses’ for the industry.

He said: ‘The travel industry does around half of its business in summer.

‘So I would say the losses will run into the billions, when you take into account refunds and loss of sales. You’ve also got the cost of moving the planes to be parked and the cost of staff and running the business itself.’

Charles called on the Government to set a firm date for the full return of international travel.

‘They have set July 19 as the date for ending of domestic restrictions, the Government needs to set a date, perhaps July 31, when travel will be restored.

‘It needs to give confidence in the sector or there will be more companies that go under and job losses.’

Meanwhile, figures from Skyscanner, and reported in the Times, show how holidaymakers are rushing to book flights to holiday destinations on the green list.

Flights to Gibraltar have seen a 115 percent increase in seats sold at the beginning of July, compared to the previous week.

EasyJet, Wizz Air, British Airways and Eastern Airways have all reportedly put on extra flights to Gibraltar to meet the demand.

There has also been a 40 percent increase in demand for flights to Iceland.

Both are currently on the UK’s travel green list, meaning tourists can return from these countries without having to quarantine.

Those returning from amber list countries, such as Portugal, Spain, Greece and America, all face a 10-day period of self-isolation and two negative PCR-tests on arrival in the UK.

Those on the red-list are required to stay in a quarantine hotel for up to 10-days.

Israel, another country which has been on the green list since the traffic light system was announced last month, is set to open its borders for UK travel next month.

The country, which has been involved in a recent heightened conflict with Gaza, has been closed to UK holidaymakers since the pandemic began last year.

The country’s tourist office told the Times it had been approached by a number of tour operators ahead of July 1.

Today a spokesperson for the Department for Transport told MailOnline said its traffic light system ‘cautiously balances the reopening of international travel with managing the risk of imported variants’.

The spokesperson added: ‘This list is regularly reviewed using the most up-to-date, robust data to ensure we keep the general public safe.’

It comes as holiday booking company TUI yesterday cancelled more trips to Greece, Spain and Italy until July as it was announced that Freedom Day is being pushed back by four weeks.

It has already been forced to cancel bookings before during the pandemic so it is believed that the latest decision is a bid to avoid losing more money.

The move comes after Jet2 cancelled all international flights and holidays up to July 1 and Easyjet is ‘reviewing’ its flights in the wake of traffic light chaos.

The latest TUI holidays to get the axe, according to Travel Weekly, are:

Up to and including July 4: Aruba, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece – Crete, Kavala, Kefalonia, Mykonos, Preveza, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos, Thessaloniki, Italy, Jamaica, Malta, Spain – Mainland Spain, Formentera, Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca, La Palma, all Tui, Lakes & Mountains destinations.

Up to and including July 11: Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Mexico, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey.

The company also had to cancel all holidays which include non-Tui flights to Indonesia, Maldives, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand and UAE up to including July 11.

Jet2 originally suspended its services up to June 24 when the green list was announced.

But now all flights for this month have been cancelled amid a spate of changes – including moving Portugal, Madeira and the Azores to the amber list.

Flights to Turkey, which is on the red list of the Government’s traffic light system, will be held until July 22 as the restrictions look unlikely to ease.

Jet2 boss Steve Heapy blasted the Government for confusion surrounding the last-minute changes.

He called for ‘openness and transparency’ on coronavirus data so that the industry could better understand decisions affecting airlines and their customers.

TUI told Travel Weekly: ‘We want to offer our customers flexibility and choice this summer, so where borders are open and FCDO advice allows travel, we will operate to those destinations as planned.

‘We are constantly reviewing our holiday programme and cancellations in line with the government updates every three weeks, with the next update expected on 24 June.

‘All customers will be contacted as soon as possible if there is any change to their booking.’

‘All customers impacted by these cancellations will be contacted directly and will be able to request a full cash refund, or to change to a later date or alternative holiday and receive a booking incentive,’ Tui added.

‘If we need to cancel any future holidays because of updated government guidance, we will be in touch directly and aim to give customers at least seven days’ notice.

‘We would like to thank our customers for their understanding at this time.’

Meanwhile, budget airline EasyJet said it is reviewing flights to Portugal after the country was taken off the green list for travel.

A spokesman said: ‘As a result of the Government’s sudden announcement placing Portugal on the amber list from next week, we are currently reviewing our flying programme to the country in the coming days.

‘If customers want to change their plans, we offer the option to transfer their flights to another date or destination on EasyJet’s network without a change fee up to two hours before departure.

‘Any customers whose flights are cancelled will be provided with their options which include receiving a full refund or transferring to an alternative flight free of charge.’

It comes after travel industry chiefs last week blasted the Government’s ‘crippling’ decision to axe Portugal from its green list of safe destinations amid growing concern over the Nepal coronavirus variant.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced the Mediterranean country, whose economy relies greatly on UK tourists, is being moved to the amber list from 4am Tuesday following a rise in positive tests.

But the move triggered fury from travel industry chiefs, including the chief executives of Heathrow and EasyJet, who accused the Government of trying to ‘isolate’ Britain from the world and warned that another ‘lost summer’ could lead to a jobs bloodbath and billions more being wiped from the economy.

Figures compiled for the Mail by the all-party Future of Aviation group of MPs last night projected that the cost to the economy could be as much as £11.5 billion in outbound travel alone if the current restrictions remain through the next three months. Meanwhile, fears were raised for the 1.6million jobs the aviation, travel and tourism sector creates.

It comes after furious Tory MPs lashed out at Boris Johnson as he prepares to delay Freedom Day and the end of lockdown for four weeks.

The Prime Minister will urge Britons to be patient as he announces that the relaxation of Covid restrictions will be pushed back until July 19 because of the rampaging Indian variant, to allow more people to receive their second vaccine dose.

But he is set to offer an olive branch to some industries that will be worst-hit by the delay, including lifting the cap on the number of guests who can attend weddings. He is also expected to permit more outdoor seated spaces at sporting events.

The concessions come as Tory MPs join hospitality and other business leaders in venting their fury at the postponement, warning it will cost firms millions of pounds.

The Prime Minister faced calls for a ‘break clause’ to cut short the lockdown extension after two or three weeks’ if the data allows it.

Conservative MP Damian Green has told the Westminster Hour that there should be a break clause after two or three weeks of the extension.

‘I get the point that because of the deltas variant the cases have gone up, hospitalisation has gone up a bit but not a lot and is below the level of some of the Sage predictions of a few months ago,’ he said.

‘So I think if there is a delay I hope it’s only for a few weeks and I think if it is as long as a month then there should be a break clause after two or maybe three weeks, to say that if we can tell by then that the rise in cases is not lading to a sort of rise in the serious illness that sends people into hospital, then we can unlock earlier.’