Holiday bookings jump as Covid travel tests axed

Holiday bookings have jumped with "notable increases" in trips planned for February half-term and Easter ahead of Covid travel tests being scrapped.

Jet2 said bookings had increased by 30% on last week after the announcements on Monday that rules would be relaxed for people arriving in England or Scotland.

The rule changes mean fully-vaccinated people arriving in those countries from abroad do not need to take Covid tests.

The change will come into effect from 04:00 GMT on 11 February.

Steve Heapy, chief executive of Jet2, told the BBC the removal of testing was "game-changer" for the travel industry.

He said demand was "already strong" before the rule changes for England and Scotland were announced on Monday, but added bookings had since risen further.

"We have seen a notable increase in demand for holidays and flights across all seasons, particularly February half term, the Easter holidays and Summer 22," he said.

Jet2 said the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, mainland Spain, Italy and Portugal were "selling strongly". It added there was "enormous growth" for bookings for Greece, Turkey and Cyprus.

Ski flights to Geneva, Salzburg Grenoble, Chambery and Lyon were also up, the company said, after being buoyed by France also easing some restrictions on UK travellers.

Aside from changes for fully-jabbed travellers, rules have been eased for unvaccinated people, who will no longer have to take a day eight test or self isolate, but will still need pre-departure and day two tests.

However, everyone arriving in England and Scotland, regardless of vaccination status, will need to fill in a passenger locator form.

Wales and Northern Ireland have not announced whether they will follow the rule change.

Passengers travelling abroad from the UK will also be required to follow the isolation and testing requirements of the country they are heading to.

The phasing out of domestic testing rules has resulted in demand growing for flights and holidays through January, with Jet2 declaring it has planned a larger summer holiday package for 2022 than 2019.

Tour operator Tui told the BBC it had also seen a "big increase in bookings".

Andrew Flintham, managing director for Tui UK said, the removal of arrival tests was a "huge leap forwards in getting travel back to normal".

Long-haul destinations including Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cape Verde and the Canary Islands were proving the most popular for winter escapes, he added

"We now expect summer 2022 bookings to be back to pre-pandemic levels."

Elsewhere, Thomas Cook, which was rebranded as an online holiday company after it collapsed in 2019, said Turkey and Italy were among the most in-demand destinations for summer holidays.

It said overall weekly bookings were up by "more than 300% on 2021".

Boss Alan French said: "After two years of bans and changing rules, it feels like we've really turned a corner and with the end of testing in sight we expect to see even more people look ahead to a summer of sunshine, beaches and glistening blue seas."

However, the trade body for the testing firm industry has said the rules have been lifted too quickly.

On Monday, Tom Watson, chairman of the Laboratory and Testing Industry Organisation, said the body had "consistently backed relaxing unnecessary restrictions", but added the "only way" to avoid future lockdowns was to maintain "a robust Covid testing regime to quickly discover new variants".