Thousands of Brits jet off on green list getaways as lockdown travel ban finally lifted – World News
Over 5,000 British sunseekers will jet off to the Algarve today as the “green list” getaway kicks off.
The first UK flight allowed to carry holidaymakers leaves Manchester at dawn and will touch down in Faro at 9am.
Canary Islands governors hope they will be able to join Portugal as a quarantine-free destination from May 30, despite mainland Spain being on the “amber list”.
Dozens of flights to Faro are scheduled today, carrying an estimated 5,500 travellers. They will be greeted by sunny skies and temperatures into the 80s, which forecasters say will last all week. Other airlines are flying to Lisbon and Porto.
Portugal is the first major European holiday destination granted Downing Street’s “green list” status. Visitors to neighbouring Spain must self-isolate for 10 days when they return to the UK.
Travel firms have reported a surge in bookings to Portugal since the May 7 green list announcement. Most hotels are fully-booked for the end of May, when most UK schools are on half-term.
(Image: Alamy Live News.)
With demand soaring, airlines have ramped up the number of passengers they can take over the coming weeks.
A spokeswoman for easyJet reported a “surge” in bookings and British Airways called the rise in demand “massive”.
EasyJet has five flights due to depart today – four to Faro in Portugal and one to Gibraltar, also on the green list.
BA has five flights to Portugal and Ryanair has 13 flights from the UK to Portugal. Tui has four flights carrying 600 people to the Portuguese island of Madeira on the same day.
Ryanair, which refused to reveal how many passengers it would be carrying today, has cut ticket prices on flights to Faro to as little as £9.99.
Faro tourism chiefs were preparing a “carnival atmosphere” to welcome British visitors this morning.
The 7,500 holidaymakers they expect to arrive from across Europe will be given a welcome kit containing face masks and a promotional brochure.
They could be hit with €100 (£86) fines if they fail to stick to Covid-19 guidelines.
(Image: Phil Harris / Daily Mirror)
The rules include wearing masks when walking onto Algarve beaches and when inside restaurants, bars and toilets.
Tourists will also be fined for using crowded beaches or failing to socially distance by 1.5m on the sand.
Bigger penalties of €1,000 (£860) will be dished out to hotels or beach operators who fail to sanitise sunbeds and other equipment.
More than 2.8 million British tourists are expected to spend their holidays in the country this summer, with each set to part with around £700. Portugal’s Covid-19 vaccination plan is accelerating, with a new daily record 125,000 jabs administered on Saturday.
Around 17,000 people have died with coronavirus in Portugal.
Canaries regional government leader Angel Victor Torres said yesterday he hoped the islands will be put on the UK’s green list “imminently” after lobbying to be treated differently from mainland Spain.
He is hoping May 30 will be the day tourists can return. “The Canary Islands’ government is in permanent contact with the British authorities,” he said.
“The UK’s decision to treat regions separately from nations is something that will happen. It’s something that could occur imminently.”
British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle has called on the Government to reunite Britons with their families overseas by urgently opening up air travel to more low-risk countries.
(Image: Daily Mirror)
He said data on vaccination and infection rates for countries including the US, Spain and Greece made a “compelling case” for putting them on the green list from early next month.
Mr Doyle said the six million British expatriates around the world were desperate to see loved ones after “a very tough 14 months”, adding: “You’ve got people who have got elderly or frail parents they have been unable to see. ‘You’ve also got people who have suffered bereavements who haven’t been able to come back and grieve. People want to reconnect.”
Yesterday Which? warned of a lack of clarity from travel insurers over how much protection their policies offer for Covid-related disruption.
A poll found half believed they would be covered should the Government’s travel advice change after a trip was booked, and 47% thought their policy would cover them in the event that local or national lockdowns prevented them from travelling.
But the watchdog analysed 73 travel insurance providers and found cover for those eventualities was very rare.
Despite the skies opening up for flights abroad, £31billion will be spent on UK holidays this year, according to a Travelodge study.
It found 76% are still too scared to travel abroad and 47% have not had a holiday since the first lockdown, want certainty their money will not be wasted and see “staycations” as a more secure option to going overseas.
For the seventh year Cornwall keeps its crown as the nation’s top coastal holiday destination. Brighton took second place and Blackpool was third.
The Lake District, North Wales and the Scottish Highlands are the top rural destinations this year.
Fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the flight – The Great British Take-off for sunshine holidays starts today.
Since the dark, miserable days of winter lockdown, it’s been a long wait for Brits who have been dreaming of soaking up the rays by a beach or a pool in Europe’s hotspots.
After a few squeaky-bum-time moments on Friday, when getaways to the mainland of Portugal looked in the balance, it’s all systems go for trips to green list destinations today.
If it’s your first time to Portugal, do try a pastel de nata, I bet that you can’t eat just one.
Atlantic island groups also top the green list booking charts, and while Gibraltar offers a great home-from-home break, I expect Brits will also want to try a getaway to Iceland.
It’s spectacular volcanic scenery rather than sunshine we’ll soak up there. Just take an anorak and quite a lot of money, it’s not cheap.
Wherever we go we’ll have to put up with the possibility of long queues at airports and whatever Covid tests, vaccination status and rules are required in the holiday ‘new normal’.
Given these ongoing uncertain times, I recommend buying a package holiday with the added security of ATOL protection, which helps you if your travel company, airline or hotel goes out of business.
Hopefully this is the beginning of a safe sunshine summer which will see more destinations added to the green list over the coming weeks.
The largest cruise ship ever built for the UK market arrived in Southampton from a shipyard in Germany yesterday before its naming ceremony.
P&O’s new 1,132ft vessel Iona weighs 185,000 tonnes and has capacity for 5,200 holidaymakers.
