A massive 129 million trips have been lost to the pandemic, says travel firm Holiday Extras, with over one-third of these due to bureaucracy and restrictive travel rules implemented by the government.
New analysis by Holiday Extras shows those 129 million trips would have been worth £100bn to the travel industry and therefore the wider economy.
The 45 million lost to travel rules has cost about £35bn.
Since March 2020 Holiday Extras has been asking UK travellers whether they are planning to fly, and if not, what’s putting them off taking a trip overseas.
It has polled 12,000 UK holidaymakers.to date.
Since the end of 2021, Holiday Extras’ market research shows that holidaymakers are put off travelling by unpredictable changes to the travel rules rather than the virus itself.
When polled in September and December, over half (59%) of respondents said they were deterred from travelling by ever-changing government rules, which is three times as many as the 20% still being put off by the virus itself.
Matthew Pack, Group CEO of Holiday Extras, said: "While the relaxation of the testing requirements for inbound travel will give holidaymakers a confidence boost, the cost and hassle associated with private lateral flow tests is still a barrier for many."
"Since the start of the pandemic our business alone has lost 11 million bookings to the pandemic, and more than three million of those were people put off travelling by the unpredictable changes to government travel rules."
