Holiday firms see ‘huge surge’ in bookings after change of rules announcement

Tui, EasyjJet, British Airway and Jet2 have seen demand boom since the Government announced fewer restrictions to travel would be in place from October

Holiday firms are lining up more flights to cope with a stampede of double-jabbed jetaway Brits.

Bookings at some firms are up 300% since Friday’s announcement of fewer restrictions from October 4.

EasyJet is adding 51,000 seats in October – with single fares to Turkey starting at £25.99.

Chief commercial officer Sophie Dekkers said: “We’ve seen a huge surge in bookings.”

Tui echoed the message, with demand booming. Some firms are offering more than a third off trips to Spain, Greece and Portugal.

BA has launched a flash sale with up to £300 off trips booked before September 21.

Turkey and the Maldives, both off the red list along with Egypt, Sri Lanka and Kenya, are in demand.

Jet2.com restarts flights to Turkey from Thursday. It said: “Bookings have gone through the roof – up 250 to 300% in 24 hours.”

Half-term family deals include seven nights’ self catering in Majorca for £365pp with lastminute.com.

A week’s self catering at Govina Bay, Corfu, is from £254pp with travelsupermarket.

And Thomas Cook said: “Halfterm bookings are up more than 200% compared to August.”

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Friday’s announcement marked the end of the amber list, and eight countries off the red list next week.

By the end of October, supervised £30 lateral flow tests will replace PCRs for double jabbed holidaymakers arriving home.

But the unvaccinated still pay for a PCR test and face 10 days isolation.

Yet industry chiefs fear it may be too little too late. The Association of British Travel Agents’ Sean Tipton warned: “Sixty seven per cent of our members say they have staff on furlough and are considering further job losses.”

Around 250,000 jobs have been axed or put at risk. Travel chiefs want no testing for double-jabbed.

But Prof Lawrence Young of Warwick University warned that PCR tests were still needed to monitor new Covid-19 mutations.

“Letting our guard down runs the risk of bringing a new variant into the country,” he said.