The UK government first introduced the concept of quarantine hotels on February 15, mandatory for all travelers returning to the UK from ‘high risk’ countries.

Since May 17, when international leisure travel became legal again thanks to a traffic light system, this requirement applies to all arrivals from countries on the “red list”.

Only UK or Irish nationals or those with UK residency rights are allowed to enter the UK from countries marked in red.

But who pays for the quarantine and how much does it cost?

UK hotels are seeing cancellation rates of over 50% as holidaymakers race overseas after changes to the traffic light system this week.

Data from hotel technology provider Avvio shows cancellation rates fell just 4% earlier this year.

Avvio Commercial Director Michael De Jongh says: “Customers cancel reservations at the last minute and instead go overseas. Some hotels have cancellation rates of 50% or more.

“If these cancellations happen at resort hotels, rooms often quickly fill up again, as there’s a line of families desperate to have a resort stay. But cancellations are hitting downtown hotels hard. Many were only 30% occupied before overseas travel reopened.

“It’s a nightmare for them because most of these reservations will never be filled.”

The latest update to the government’s travel lists has sparked fury in some quarters, after India was put on the Amber List while Pakistan remains Red.

A petition calling for Pakistan to be removed from the high-risk list has collected more than 114,000 signatures, of which more than 50,000 have been added in the past 24 hours.

It has reached the 100,000 threshold, which means that the matter will be considered for debate in Parliament.

Brittany Ferries saw bookings triple in 24 hours after France was removed from controversial ‘amber plus’ status.

Starting at 4 a.m. on Sunday August 8, arrivals from France to the UK who have been fully vaccinated do not need quarantine. The nation will join the vast majority of other European nations on the “orange list”.

Nigel Wonnacott of Brittany Ferries said The independent: “On Thursday we took £ 1.2million in bookings, which compares to around £ 400,000 a day before the government’s announcement on France.

“Around 85% of reservations taken were for UK-France routes: a total of 1,398 compared to 568.”

Holiday bookings in France were shot in the arm after the country lost its “amber plus” status in Wednesday’s travel review.

Since the announcement, Club Med has seen web traffic to its France landing page increase by 43% per week, alongside Google searches for rules for British citizens traveling to France up 550% within 24 hours following the announcement of the Orange List.

Estelle Giraudeau, Managing Director UK and Northern Europe at Club Med, said: “France continued to be a favorite with the British, traveling to both our coastal and alpine summer resorts. and with web traffic to our France landing page up 43%. week after week, and we’re at least delighted to be able to bring our UK customers back to some of our most popular and best-selling resorts in France after such a hectic few months.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Britons should expect overseas travel to be even “trickier” this year as he asks the public to be patient on the subject.

Johnson praised the success of the vaccination program in allowing double-needled people to travel more freely, and said things should improve once again as more countries reach a higher level of immunization.

The UK Green List was recently updated to include seven new countries such as Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway.

To look at The independentthe full video article from here:

Wales agreed to adopt the UK government’s latest changes to the Red, Orange and Green travel lists on Thursday evening, but ministers said they were “extremely disappointed” with Westminster’s “one-sided approach”.

“Decisions for England have once again been taken without engagement with the Welsh government or other decentralized governments,” said Welsh Minister of Health Eluned Morgan.

“This is unacceptable – the international travel policy affects all parts of the UK and Welsh interests must be part of the decision-making process.

“We are extremely disappointed with the one-sided approach taken and believe that there remain obvious public health risks associated with reopening international travel as the virus circulates around the world.”

Wizz Air, Europe’s fastest growing airline, today announced that it is ramping up the recruitment of pilots to its network, with plans to hire 4,600 new pilots by 2030.

The airline has already trained more than 150 additional pilots to fly more than 100% of pre-Covid capacity this summer and aims to recruit more than 300 more by the end of this year.

Wizz Air welcomes applications from experienced captains and first officers as well as those with no flying experience, through its Wizz Air Pilot Academy program, which gives aspiring pilots the opportunity to obtain a commercial pilot license. In addition to recruiting pilots, Wizz Air continues to recruit cabin crew members at its 43 bases to meet its growth plans.

Heiko Holm, Chief Operations Officer of Wizz Air, said: “We are delighted to recruit for thousands of new pilot positions at an exciting time for Wizz Air, as we continue to grow our presence in Europe and beyond. “

Family vacations taken during the summer school holidays cost on average £ 418 more than the same trips in September during school time, a new study finds.

Currency expert FairFX analyzed the cost of 390 vacations to six popular European vacation destinations from three different vacation providers for a family of four, comparing prices in August to the cost of the same trip in September.

The survey found that holidays in Croatia cost twice as much in August as at the beginning of September, with parents potentially paying an additional £ 1,422 to take a trip during the summer holidays, an increase of 68 %.

For families hoping to go on a summer vacation to Italy, flying away in August could see parents paying more than £ 300 more than a September departure.

The only destination with a less significant increase was Greece, where the FairFX survey found prices had only increased by £ 49 compared to fixed-term travel.

The UK’s largest independent travel agency, Hays Travel, saw bookings increase 193% on Thursday following the latest update to UK travel rules.

Dame Irene Hays, President of Hays Travel, said Sky News: “What we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks is a lot of inquiries and so we’ve had a lot of people who were willing to book them, we’re just waiting for announcements from the Secretary of State.”

She urged travelers to be sure to book with a “reputable travel agent” following comments from Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps admitting he could “never say there was no chance “that Spain and other popular holiday destinations be placed on the red list in the future.

Dame Irene said: “As long as people are careful about where they book, the travel agent will take care of the two most important things – one is their health and safety, and the second is their financial security. “

She added: “Just to say that right now we’ll be seeing some of the best prices and the travel industry we’ve seen in years.”