Families flock to book holidays as demand returns to 'pre-pandemic levels' amid rule change

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Families are flocking to book holidays after the Government relaxed Covid tests for fully jabbed travellers. The chief executive of industry giant Jet2 said demand had already returned to around pre-pandemic levels, with many rushing to bag summer breaks in the sun.Steve Heapy said the company had seen a “huge spike” in booking after this week’s announcement that pre-departure tests for fully vaccinated people would be ditched.“People are desperate to get away, that’s been demonstrated over the past couple of days,” he said.Other travel firms have also reported a rise in bookings.

Tour giant Tui said customers had been given the “reassurance” that travel “will once again be easier and more affordable”. EasyJet said it had seen a near 200% jump in UK bookings, with demand to some destinations up over 400% week on week.

The budget airline, which also sells holidays, said its research had showed that “holiday starved” Britons planned to spend more money on holidays this year than ever before.A third are aiming to splash out to £1,000 or more than usual on their holiday this year, it said.Nearly half are planning a ‘holiday of a lifetime’ this year to make up for the past two years.Sophie Dekkers, chief commercial officer at easyJet, said: “We know that there is pent up demand with many desperate to get away this year, which we continue to see each time restrictions are removed.”Alistair Rowland, chief executive of Blue Bay Travel and chairman of travel body Abta, said Thursday was the busiest day, in terms of website traffic and booking inquiries, in over a year.Demand matched that of January 2020, he said, “which is something we couldn’t have imagined a month ago, when these testing rules came in and consumer confidence