Holiday bookings double after red list cut

Steve Heapy, chief executive of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, said the decision will have a significant benefit to airlines.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office lifted its advice for the Bahamas, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Jamaica, Martinique, Palau, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Western Sahara on Friday.

Advice for a further 42 locations was being lifted today, including Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Indonesia, Mexico, the Seychelles, South Africa and Thailand.

Jet2 operates from Birmingham Airport to destinations across the Mediterranean and Canary Islands. It said the relaxation of travel restrictions had encouraged more people to take up foreign trips to all destinations.

Mr Heapy said: “Bookings have been increasing significantly in recent weeks however customers clearly view this latest announcement as the genuine reopening of international travel. Holiday bookings have doubled since the red list was cut, which shows just how assured customers now feel.

"After so much uncertainty, the cutting of the red list, on top of recent positive news, has clearly given customers the confidence to book the well-deserved holiday that they have been waiting for.

Bookings with Jet2holidays are up across all seasons with the rest of October, half term, winter and summer 2022 all seeing strong growth.

He added: "That is an extremely encouraging trend which tells us that the enormous pent-up demand is translating into bookings.

"We understand that the UK Government will shortly confirm when testing changes are to come into force, enabling double vaccinated customers to take a lateral flow test after returning to the UK, instead of a costly PCR test. We look forward to this update which we know will give holidaymakers even more to be happy about," added Mr Heapy.