Testing capacity can't meet international travel needs says expert

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TUI is set to resume some flights and holidays from May 17 in line with the Government guidelines. However, as a result of the “traffic light” system, the holiday provider has made the decision to only depart from four UK airports.

This means all holidays between May 17 and May 27 which do not depart from London Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol are cancelled.

In its latest update, TUI explained: “We’re sorry to say the following holidays will not be operating.

“All TUI holidays departing from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including flight-only and accommodation-only bookings, due to depart on or before May 16 2021.

“All TUI holidays, including flight-only bookings, departing from any UK airport EXCEPT London Gatwick, Manchester Birmingham and Bristol due to depart on or before May 27 2021.”

A selection of additional holidays due to depart are also cancelled amid ongoing restrictions.

All Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Bulgaria, Croatia, Tunisia, Egypt and Cape Verde holidays due to depart on or before June 6, 2021, have been cancelled.

Holidays to Los Cabos, Mexico and Kvarner Bay, Croatia, including flight-only and accommodation-only bookings due to depart before October 31, 2021, have also been axed.

TUI has further cancelled all “TUI Lakes and Mountains holidays to all destinations except Switzerland, due to depart on or before June 6 2021.”

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A number of Marella cruises have also been put on hold due to ongoing restrictions.

These include Marella Cruises sailing on Marella Discovery and Marella Discovery 2 due to depart on or before July 31, 2021; Marella Cruises sailings from Palma on Marella Explorer due to depart on or before 25 September 2021; Marella Cruises sailings from Dubrovnik on Marella Explorer 2 due to depart on or before 21 October 2021; TUI River Cruises sailings on TUI Skyla due to depart on or before August 1, 2021; TUI River Cruises sailings on TUI Maya due to depart on or before August 14, 2021; and TUI River Cruises sailings on TUI Isla due to depart on or before October 31, 2021.

The holiday provider assures it will contact customers “nearer the time” if their holiday plans are cancelled in the future.

In a statement, TUI explained: “Following the recent announcement from the UK Government, customers travelling from England will be subject to a new traffic light system with ‘green’, ‘amber’ and ‘red’ destinations.

“It’s expected that international travel can resume from 17 May at the earliest.

“We review the information on this page in line with each Government announcement and expect to know more within the next few weeks.”

In order to provide customers with peace of mind, TUI continues to offer its “Holiday Promise” and “Free Changes Policy”.

This means the travel operator will change bookings free of charge or offer customers a full refund if they can not travel abroad due to legal restrictions, FCDO travel advice changes, new quarantine rules, or a nation goes onto the “red list”.

“If we need to cancel your holiday for any of these reasons, you don’t need to do anything,” explains the TUI website.

“We’ll work through bookings in departure date order to proactively contact you as soon as we can.

“If you have an accommodation-only booking, which isn’t impacted by travel restrictions, and that you, therefore, don’t want to cancel, please give us a call.”

Customers will additionally be offered the opportunity to change their booking “for free” if Government rules change for their destination meaning they will face quarantine, if new testing or vaccine rules are introduced, or if a “green” destination is “reclassified as green watchlist or amber”.

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