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On the Beach stops selling summer holidays
Online travel agent On The Beach has pulled all inventory for most of the summer due to the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and traffic light Covid-safe rating system.
It says it will sell no holidays for travel in June, July or August.
This includes all trips, even those on the green list such as Portugal.
"There’s nothing we want more than to be able to send customers on holiday, but with the current number of unknowns, we don’t think that now is the right time for customers to book new holidays departing in the next few months," said chief executive, Simon Cooper.
If it sold holidays for travel within the next few weeks, it runs the risk of time-consuming ‘administrative costs and loss of goodwill.’
There are currently only 12 countries on the government’s ‘green list’ for quarantine-free foreign holidays under the traffic light system.
Portugal is the only short haul mass-market sunshine destination on the list.
On The Beach said existing bookings to amber list countries will go ahead but customers can amend dates without fees.
"While several holiday companies are encouraging trips to amber list destinations, On the Beach’s decision to remove these from sale reflects the reality that most customers don’t want to travel against government advice," said Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel.
"Anyone who is booking a holiday should look for a flexible booking policy that covers them against countries changing from green to amber or red between booking and travel."
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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