International holiday bookings surged by as much as 600% after Britain laid out plans to gradually relax coronavirus restrictions, giving battered airlines and tour operators hope that a bumper summer could come to their rescue, Reuters reports.
Ryanair, EasyJet, TUI, and Thomas Cook reported a rise in bookings to destinations including Greece, Spain, and Turkey.
August breaks are the most popular, followed by July and September.
“The Prime Minister’s address has provided a much-needed boost in confidence for so many of our customers in the UK with demand for flights up 337 percent and holidays up 630 percent already compared to last week and beach destinations proving most popular for this summer,” EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren noted.
Thomas Cooks Chief Executive Alan French dubbed the PM’s roadmap ‘good news’ with the firm seeing booking ‘flooding in’.
Johnson said a travel taskforce would set out plans on 12 April on the return to international travel “so people can plan for the summer”.
The ban on international travel will not be lifted until 17 May at the earliest.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations, Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
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