Canary Islands: Shapps gives update on possible green list additions
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The tour operator has made the decision amid the ongoing uncertainty regarding the traffic light rules. Although Spain opened its borders to Britons last week, the Government urges not to travel to amber list countries.
TUI announced today it “unfortunately had to cancel all holidays to the following red and amber destinations.”
It has cancelled flights and holiday packages up to and including June 13.
Some of the affected destinations are popular holiday spots many Britons were hoping to travel to next month.
These include Greece (Crete, Halkidiki, Kefalonia, Preveza, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos, Thassos, Zante), Italy and Spain (mainland Spain, and islands Formentera, Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca and La Palma).
TUI has also cancelled all holidays to Aruba, Croatia, Cyprus, Jamaica and Tanzania.
The holiday operator said it doesn’t want to take travellers on holidays where they will be required to quarantine – either there or on the way back – and which can not be shortened with evidence of a negative Covid-19 test or being fully vaccinated.
In the case of Spain, the country opened its borders to Britons last week but it is still on the amber list, meaning passengers need to quarantine for 10 days on return to the UK.
A few countries are expected to be added to the green list in the next review, which will take place next week.
“We are constantly reviewing our holiday programme and cancellations in line with the government updates every three weeks, with the next update due in early June,” said the tour operator.
It said all Tui Lakes and Mountains holidays will be cancelled up to and including June 13.
Tui already announced a few days ago a round of cancellations for long haul destinations until June 27, including Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Mexico, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.
TUI assured that anyone affected by this will be entitled to a full refund.
“All customers impacted by these cancellations will be contacted directly and will be able to request a full cash refund, or to change to a later date or alternative holiday and receive a booking incentive.
“If we need to cancel any future holidays because of updated Government guidance, we will be in touch directly and aim to give customers at least seven days’ notice.”
TUI resumed flying to many destinations on May 17, when the UK international travel ban was lifted.
This week it has increased the number of flights to green list destination Portugal from many UK airports. TUI operates now five more weekly routes to Faro from Birmingham, Gatwick, Newcastle and Manchester.
Spain and Greece are the main destinations Britons hope to see in the green list next week, although it’s more likely that only islands will be moved to the list. The Canary and Balearic Islands in Spain have already asked the UK Government to be treated separately.
The Canary Islands’ regional government leader, Angel Victor Torres said that “The Canary Islands’ government is in permanent contact with the British authorities and the UK’s decision to treat regions separately from nations is something that will happen. It’s something that could occur imminently.”
Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, recently said: “We have always said in the past we have tried to assess islands separately.
“Whether that is possible or not isn’t just down to the level of infection on those islands, it’s also down to their ability to sequence the genomes that we know about, the variants or potential variants of concern on those islands as well.”
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