The UK’s largest tour operator Tui have extended their cancellation of holidays to the Balearic and Canary Islands until 4 August.
This comes after the British government placed mainland Spain and the Islands on the 14-day mandatory quarantine list for all holidaymakers travelling back to the UK.
The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) are advising against all but essential travel to the countries, following a spike in coronavirus cases.
Tui has also cancelled all holidays until 10 August to mainland Spain, those who were due to travel between 26 July and 9 August can amend travel arrangements or cancel their holiday, with a full refund.
Andrew Flintham, Managing Director of TUI UK and Ireland said in a statement: “Following the change in travel advice to Spain our customer feedback is clear, they still want to travel aboard this summer, with over 70% of customers with cancelled holidays moving to another destination over the same period or in the coming weeks.
“We’ve therefore added seven new flights for this weekend to Crete, Rhodes, Zante and Corfu in Greece and Dalaman and Antalya in Turkey and have changed some flights from the 737 aircraft to 787 Dreamliners to help with the additional demand.
“The summer holiday period is the most important time of year for travel operators and we are therefore doing everything we can to help customers get their well-deserved holiday.
“The health and safety of our customers and colleagues is always our highest priority and welcome travel advice that protects those that holiday with us and we have worked hard to provide safe and enjoyable holidays this summer.”
He added, “Importantly, we also call upon the UK government to work closely with the travel industry and remove the ‘blunt tool’ approach to quarantine and consider the rapid introduction of regional Travel Corridors.
“The level of uncertainty and confusion created this week is damaging for business and customer confidence in travel.
Meanwhile, Jose Ramon Bauza, a former president of the Balearic islands, said he “doesn’t understand the decision of the British government,” in changing their travel advice on Spain.
Bauza told Sky News on Wednesday, “Of course, we had some vacuums of coronavirus in Spain but most of the regions are absolutely low numbers, including better than Britain.
“I can assure you that being here in the Balearics is absolutely safe, it’s as safe as any other place in Europe.”
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