UK holiday bookings for the Canary Islands increase but with some caution

Latest industry studies show that some 400,000 British tourists will visit Spain this August after the reduction of requirements announced this week by the UK Government for residents of the United Kingdom who return to their country and have received two doses of the vaccine against Covid-19. However, both travel agencies and tour operators have cautious optimism as Brits are expressing their desire to travel, but the majority of new and rescheduled reservations are for later in the year or 2022.

This figure is the result of combining the 2.2 million British tourists who visited Spain in August 2019, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), and the estimate by the UK airports association, which calculates that the movement of passengers in August will be a fifth of the one registered in 2019.

British Transport Minister, Grant Shapps, announced that vaccinated adults will not have to undergo 10-day quarantine from July 19^th when returning from an amber list country, as is the case at the moment. They will either have to show their NHS vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test result, which is the same as the requirements of the Spanish Government to enter Spain, including the Canary Islands.

Children aged 4 and under will remain to be exempt from any kind of travel testing, whereas those aged between 5 and 10 will only need to take a day 2 PCR test after returning home, while minors aged between 11 and 18 years old will need to take both the pre-departure test and a day 2 PCR test.
This new requirement for children has been criticized as it hasn’t been required so far in domestic law, and substantially increases the cost of travel for families.

Cautious optimism:
The announcement by the UK Government, which offers the possibility of travelling to more foreign destinations coinciding with the general relaxation of restrictions in the United Kingdom on the same date, prompted optimistic headlines, such as a 400% increase in demand for flights by EasyJet and 96% by British Airways. However, the tourism sector accommodated them with cautious optimism because they know that the base of those percentages is very low.

On the positive side, the sector does not believe that the pattern of sudden changes in the rating of countries will be reproduced this time due to their risk of causing an expansion of the epidemic by travellers or by the introduction of new variants. The UK is now conforming to the effect its successful vaccination program has on hospitalization for those affected, even though the number of infections will continue to grow.

A study by the PWC consultancy for 'Travel Gazette', based on a survey of 2,000 Brits, reveals that before the announcement they have reduced travel in their spending plans for the next twelve months and that the quarantine at the destination or on the return was the main obstacle to booking flights or package holidays.

But new factors, such as the risk of contracting Covid on the trip or at the destination, or how the epidemic affects your experience, are very important considerations.

The statistical data confirm the perspective of the travel agencies. The reservations that they are receiving in large amounts are mainly for the autumn or for 2022.

Foreign Office travel advice:
The Foreign Office has changed its advice on travel to Spain, removing its previous recommendation that non-essential travel should be avoided, which has a direct effect on the cost of travel insurance, which is more necessary than ever during Covid times.

Lastly, Simon Calder, an expert travel and tourism journalist, believes that the announcement by Grant Shapps that he is studying the recognition of the EU vaccination certificate as an endorsement for trips to the UK, suggests that it will be accepted in early August once the UK system has been running for a few weeks, and an agreement is made with the EU Commission for travel to and from all 27 European Union countries.