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Industry dealt bitter blow as Canary Islands removed from corridor
The Canary Islands have again been removed from the travel corridor.
In another bitter blow for the industry, travellers returning from the islands from 4am on Saturday will need to self isolate.
The Canary Islands were added to the travel corridor in October in a move which triggered an immediate spike in bookings.
The decision will wreck any hopes of a late winter sales push and again throws the travel plans of thousands of Brits into chaos.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the decision follows a rise in the weekly cases of Covid and positive tests in the Spanish islands.
Announcing the news on Twitter, Shapps said it was important to ‘remove the risk of importing Covid’.
Ironically, the ruling comes on the day the Canaries made it easier for UK tourists to visit the islands by accepting a rapid antigen Covid test rather than a PCR test.
While current UK quarantine rules mean returning travellers must isolate for 14 days, the UK’s new test and release scheme comes into effect on Tuesday, a development also flagged by Shapps on Twitter.
That allows travellers to take a Covid test five days after returning from a non-corridor destination with those with a negative result released from quarantine.
Meanwhile, Botswana and Saudi Arabia were added to the safe travel list with quarantine no longer necessary from the early hours of Saturday.
The fresh Canaries blow came as official data from the Office of National Statistics showed travel as the worst hit services sector, with travel agents and tour operators losing 90% of their business in October compared to February.
By Steve Jones, Contributing Editor (UK)
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