Are you put off overseas travel due to changing Government policies?
British holidaymakers have faced more uncertainty than many other Europeans in recent months, the boss of one of the continent’s biggest travel companies has said.
Tui chief executive Friedrich Joussen said that UK travellers had been put off by changing policies from the UK Government.
He singled out ministers’ decision to add Portugal to the list of green travel destinations in mid May before removing it in early June.
“You had Portugal on the green list and then Portugal off the green list, so the predictability of decisions I think was not very high,” he said.
“When you change the programme so often, then people cancel,” he added.
Data revealed by Tui on Thursday showed that, on all but a handful of days since mid-January, UK travellers cancelled more travel for summer 2021 than they booked.
In Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, the three other countries that Tui released data for, bookings had been ahead of cancellations throughout most of this period.
“The difference between the UK and the other countries is a little bit of the uncertainty,” Mr Joussen said.
He added that the cost of PCR tests will be putting off customers.
What are your views? Have you been overseas this summer or have you booked to travel? Are you deterred by changing traffic light colours? Are you put off by the cost of PCR testing?
