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Over half of Brits want to fly overseas before end of year
UK holidaymakers would be willing to fly this year if airports and airlines observed safety precautions, with Spain the destination Brits most want to travel to.
Search data for Holiday Extras shows Spain is up from 26% to 35% on previous years.
Holiday Extras asked 1,000 UK travellers what precautions they’d need to see before they next got on a plane.
With 53% of travellers still expecting to fly overseas before the end of the year and 43% admitting that a two-week quarantine when they returned wouldn’t stop them getting their week on the beach – the latest research shows what safety measures travellers expect to see in place next time they fly.
|
Safety measure |
% |
|
Social distancing (on flights and/or at airports) |
45.4% |
|
Masks |
34.2% |
|
Temperature checks |
23.3% |
|
Better cleaning and hygiene |
19.6% |
|
Vaccine / cure / end of the pandemic |
18.0% |
|
Tests for passengers and / or health certificates |
16.2% |
|
Hand sanitiser |
12.6% |
|
Gloves |
10.8% |
|
Emptier flights |
7.4% |
|
No changes required, fine to fly as before |
3.6% |
|
Emptier airports |
2.0% |
|
Emptier resorts |
1.6% |
When it comes to the destination of choice, booking trends have revealed that Spain is the number one country of choice, even more so than in previous years.
The data shows that bookings for Spain are up from 26% to 35% of the total, with Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Cyprus and Mexico following closely, all of which are on their way to opening up their top holiday destinations for the summer.
Holiday Extras associate brand director Ant Clarke Cowell said: "The top three searches on our site are for Alicante, Tenerife and Malaga – three of Spain’s most popular tourist hotspots.
"While bookings are inevitably down on last year, thousands of people have already booked their holidays for later this year or next year in the past week alone, with Spain an even more popular choice than in 2019.
"Airlines and overseas resorts should take note of what British travellers say is most important to them if they’re to fly safely and confidently – masks, temperature checks and social distancing.
"With reasonable precautions in place, we’re seeing a lot of demand for holidays this summer, and even though Spain hasn’t declared a definite date for our holidaymakers to return, it’s clear that’s where people most want to go."
Meanwhile, Holiday Extras has updated its insurance products to include cover against contracting Covid-19 while travelling, with policies valid from July 1.
Customers are covered for up to £10 million in the event of requiring emergency medical treatment abroad and repatriation if they fall ill with coronavirus while abroad.
Picture: Zsanett Herczegh, Pixabay
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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