Tui holidays to Spain and Greece back on from July 11
Key dates: When will destinations around the world reopen to British tourists?
Which countries are likely candidates for an 'air bridge' holiday this summer?
In one of the most promising signs that a summer holiday on the Continent is in reach for Britons, Tui has announced it will be serving eight short-haul destinations from July 11.
The UK's largest tour operator plans to fly customers from Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham - with new safety measures onboard - to the Greek islands of Crete, Rhodes, Kos and Corfu; Spain's Canary Islands Tenerife and Lanzarote, and Majorca and Ibiza in the Balearics.
Commercial director Richard Sofer expressed confidence that the UK will have lifted the 14-day quarantine currently imposed on all arrivals by this date.
"Due to the size of our organisation we've been able to have a presence in each of those government conversations through our aviation team or through the senior members of the UK business," he said. "We're well-informed of where those discussions are.
"Obviously many of those conversations are confidential but that gives us great confidence to open up a small programme to a couple of really key countries, eight key gateways for us.
"We have absolute confidence that we're going to be getting a positive result from the government in time for July."
Follow the news as it happens below.
04:53 PMToday's main stories
Today's main stories
A proper summer holiday for Britons is looking ever more likely. Here's a recap of today's developments:
- Tui 'absolutely confident' it can send Britons to Greece and Spain from July 11
- Spain reopens but Balearic islands will restrict nightlife
- The Eiffel Tower will reopen stairs but no lifts
- Saudi Arabia to invest £3.2bn in tourism
- Cases rise in South Africa as lockdown eases
03:11 PMIt's time to consider a break for the Canaries
It's time to consider a break for the Canaries
Complications remain in place for travellers who want to leave the UK in the coming weeks – not least the FCO advice against all non-essential travel – but Spain is amenable to us paying a visit, and Tui, for one, is confident that British travel restrictions will be lifted early next month.
Once that happens, turn your attention to the beautiful Canary Islands. While your balcony and the temperature – comfortably in the upper 20s Celsius in July and August – may invite indolence and a sleepy search for a suntan, there are plenty of reasons to forge out in search of the wider Canaries. Chris Leadbeater has 20 to get you started.
02:49 PMDozens travelled to Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice despite advice not to
Dozens travelled to Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice despite advice not to
Stonehenge is not currently open for any visitors, due to the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. Usually, access to the stones themselves is limited and the summer solstice is one of the rare occasions that they are opened up, but the English Heritage-owned site was not able to make an exception for the event.
Instead English Heritage live-streamed the stones from Saturday night through to Sunday morning so the usual celebration could be enjoyed virtually. More than 3.6 million people tuned in.
However, some people decided to travel to Stonehenge anyway, defying the advice that was circulated asking all to stay away. Normally, some 100,000 people attend to watch the sun rise after the longest day of the year, though this time round there were just a few dozen in traditional costume at the site.
Find out more about why Stonehenge was closed and how they plan to reopen on July 4.
01:55 PMTravel quarantine is 'completely useless', says leading scientist
Travel quarantine is 'completely useless', says leading scientist
The Government’s controversial travel quarantine is “completely useless” and should be “dropped as soon as possible”, a world-leading epidemiologist has claimed.
Professor Peter Piot, the director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has today joined a growing list of MPs and business leaders calling for Boris Johnson to ditch the policy.
Asked about the effectiveness of the blanket travel restrictions - which require all overseas arrivals to isolate for 14 days, Prof Piot said the move would only have “made sense at the very beginning, before we had cases.”
He added that due to the UK’s relatively high infection rates, the quarantine would “not contribute much” towards suppressing the coronavirus and was simply inflicting “enormous” damage to the economy.
01:29 PMSpain reopens but Balearic islands will restrict nightlife
Spain reopens but Balearic islands will restrict nightlife
Spain has today reopened its borders to European tourists – 10 days earlier than previously planned – and in a last-minute change of plan, Britons will not be required to self-isolate upon arrival.
The Mediterranean summer favourite initially refused to lift restrictions to Britons unless it secured a reciprocal arrangement for Spanish arrivals to the UK, but appears to have caved in under pressure to boost its battered tourism industry.
Things will not, however, be back to business as usual. Boat parties are now prohibited on all the Balearic islands, including Majorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera, with no sign of when they will, if ever, be able to relaunch.
New regulations as the islands come out of lockdown also affect local nightlife businesses: bars may not stay open past 10pm and must adhere to strict social distancing. Nightclubs and other venues with a capacity of more than 300 people are not allowed to open inside spaces, though they can seat up to 100 people on terraces and outside.
The tough new regulations have been put in place by the local government in order to establish the ‘new norm’ in the post-lockdown era, and restrict the spread of coronavirus.
Some business owners believe that these new rules are also in part to rid the islands of their party reputations, where booze-fuelled tourism has presented problems in the past. The Balearic government denies these claims, despite stating in the past that it wanted to rebrand itself for a new kind of holidaymaker, including families.
While Britons are now able to enter Spain freely without quarantining themselves, a reciprocal deal to create a so-called 'air bridge' is yet to be struck, meaning British tourists will have to stay at home for two weeks on their return to Britain.
The Telegraph understands that the UK government is in talks with fewer than 10 predominantly short-haul destinations, including Spain, to build air bridges.
A list of about a dozen potential countries – including Portugal Greece and France – is being considered for bilateral agreements which would mean British holidaymakers could fly from July 4 without facing a 14-day quarantine on their arrival or return.
01:15 PMCumbria Tourism joins with MP Tim Farron to campaign for more support for local tourism sector
Cumbria Tourism joins with MP Tim Farron to campaign for more support for local tourism sector
Together, Cumbria Tourism and local MP Tim Farron have launched a petition that calls on the UK government to provide a package of financial support for the hospitality and tourism industry to take the sector through to the spring of 2021. Other Cumbrian MPs including Simon Fell and Dr Neil Hudson are now also backing the campaign.
Gill Haigh, Managing Director of Cumbria Tourism said:
Businesses have already lost more than half the year’s income. It is absolutely crucial that a clear package of financial support for the sector through the winter is not just forthcoming but confirmed as soon as possible to give the reassurance and confidence that is desperately needed and to safeguard jobs for such a major part of the county’s economy.
Gill Haigh is also one of many voices in the UK tourism industry asking the government for clearer advice on when hotels, restaurants and pubs will be able to reopen and in what manner. Find out more here.
12:57 PMHow the UK's greatest hotels are preparing to reopen on July 4
How the UK's greatest hotels are preparing to reopen on July 4
“The last thing we want is for our guests to feel as if they are in a hospital,” says Olga Polizzi, “but they do need to feel in safe hands”. Polizzi, who owns Tresanton in Cornwall and Endsleigh in Devon, is candid about the toll that closure has taken. “It’s been disastrous,” she says. “We’ve had to borrow a lot of money that will need paying back, but we are determined to celebrate when we reopen.”
In preparation for opening, hopefully as soon as July 4, and before any government announcement outlining specific rules for the hospitality sector, every hotel has been working hard to develop its own “new normal” plan and publishing hygiene and protocol statements on its website.
At Tresanton and Endsleigh, rooms will be sanitised with Rapid-10, a specialist spray, and then cleaned as normal using the Ecolab cleaning products that Polizzi favours. All bedding, including mattress toppers and duvets, will be changed for new guests.
Hotels with plenty of space are at an obvious advantage. At Chewton Glen, you will be met at your car by a staff member in mask and gloves, have your temperature checked (staff will be constantly checked as well) and led directly to your bedroom. The room will have been deep-cleaned by an electrostatic fogger worn on the back of a cleaner in full PPE. It sanitises the air as well as all soft furnishings, bedding and hard surfaces.
12:36 PMHoliday prices slashed by 50% as firms encourage families to gamble on 'air bridges'
Holiday prices slashed by 50% as firms encourage families to gamble on 'air bridges'
Holiday prices have been slashed by as much as 50 per cent, as travel companies try to tempt families to gamble on “air bridges” being in place by July, reports Charles Hymas.
Package holidays for seven nights to destinations in Spain, Portugal and Croatia in July and August have dropped below £300 per person for the first time in years.
As Portugal’s ambassador to the UK yesterday said health “conditions” were ripe for an air bridge between the two countries, holiday prices to the Algarve had some of the biggest discounts at 48 per cent. British tourists accounted for 38 per cent of all overnight hotel stays in the region last year.
The UK Government is working on potentially launching by July 4 just under 10 “travel corridors” to enable holidaymakers to sidestep the 14 quarantine on return from countries including Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Greece.
Emma Coulthurst, of TravelSupermarket, said talk of “air bridges” had led to a flip in demand. Before June, most people were searching for holidays from October, but now “it is this July, August and September just like a normal summer,” she added.
12:03 PMThe only British place that is Covid-free: How life got back to normal in Guernsey
The only British place that is Covid-free: How life got back to normal in Guernsey
The Channel Island celebrates reaching "Phase Five" of its success story in defeating Covid-19, way ahead of the UK and many other countries, reports Steve Bird.
Late into the night, more than 400 young people will squeeze their way into a Guernsey nightclub to revel in a pastime once banned as a dangerous threat to public health. The DJ will power up the 50,000-watt sound system and dazzling lighting rig as the crowd are expected to dance without a care in the world for social distancing.
Those youngsters will become the first people to visit a nightclub in the British Isles since the coronavirus lockdown in March.
11:56 AMMeet the monk who missed the pandemic
Meet the monk who missed the pandemic
Daniel Thorson, 33, works at a Buddhist monastic academy in Vermont, in the northeastern United States, and recently spent two-and-a-half months in a silent retreat, denied any news from the outside world. Upon coming out on 23rd May, he logged in to Twitter and asked his followers: “Did I miss anything?”
Read his account of facing up to a drastically different world here.
11:13 AMOnly the hotels that have used this time wisely will flourish
Only the hotels that have used this time wisely will flourish
In Anna Hart's weekly travel column Slow Motion, she writes:
The travel industry has had to accept a formerly unthinkable pause. And, like us, most hotels, campsites, rental properties and restaurants are hoping to emerge from the coronavirus chrysalis new and improved, ready to impress.
This is partly because they need to impress us; the world faces complete economic uncertainty and only the fittest hotels will survive. And although I don’t want to kick a man when he’s down, we can all think of hotels that definitely needed to “reset”
Read the full story here.
11:10 AMCrowds await on Spanish beaches
Crowds await on Spanish beaches
Spain has been gradually lifting its strict lockdown measures in recent weeks, and locals have wasted no time in returning to its beaches. Here's a snapshot of what awaits as the first Britons are permitted to enter Spain...
10:37 AMAre you fit enough to take on the Eiffel tower?
Are you fit enough to take on the Eiffel tower?
You'll have to be, because when the famed Parisian landmark reopens next Thursday (June 25), the lifts will be out of order and you'll need to use the stairs instead.
Visitors will not be able to go any higher than the second level of the tower, and until the start of July access will be only via the steps. There will also be a one-way traffic system in force on the staircases, and all visitors over the age of 11 will be required to wear a face covering.
Patrick Branco Ruivo, director of the Eiffel Tower’s operating company, expects most of the visitors at first will be domestic tourists.
“For the French public, this is the moment to come to the Eiffel Tower,” he said.
After a three-month closure, this has been the site’s longest period out of action since World War Two.
10:03 AMThe perfect father-daughter UK hotel stay for when this is all over
The perfect father-daughter UK hotel stay for when this is all over
Where’s the first place you’d go with your father, bubble or not? The Pig in Kent for starters, says Claire Irvin, who took her dad there for a weekend away pre-lockdown and will certainly be heading back once it reopens. Read her verdict below.
All of The Pig properties reopen on July 6. Expect social distancing measures inside, but the same friendly, informal atmosphere guests have come to love.
09:49 AMUK hotels and pubs call for clarity with less than two weeks to prepare reopening
UK hotels and pubs call for clarity with less than two weeks to prepare reopening
Since Boris Johnson announced the first Saturday in July as the proposed date for the hospitality sector to return, businesses across the country have been hoping to be able to reopen on that day. The government had promised three weeks of notice, and yet with less than two weeks to go, there is still no sign of confirmation that they will indeed be able to open, or in what manner.
A July 4 independence day for hotels, restaurants and pubs is beginning to look less and less likely without adequate time to prepare, though a number of well-known hotels and restaurants have announced July 4 as their reopening date and have begun to accept reservations for the first time in months.
Will they have to wash curtains between stays? Will all soft furnishings need to be removed? Will they need to leave rooms empty for a period of time in between guest stays? None of these questions have officially been answered yet.
Read Lizzie Frainier's full report here.
09:44 AMSaudi Arabia announces major investment in tourism
Saudi Arabia announces major investment in tourism
It is still under lockdown, but Saudi Arabia is looking to the future, with plans to start a tourism development fund with an initial investment of $4 billion (£3.2bn), the ministry of tourism announced today.
The Tourism Development Fund will support Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's existing Vision 2030 to diversify the economy away from its dependence on oil and embrace tourism.
In January, Telegraph Travel's Gill Charlton was one of the first female tourists to enter after border restrictions were lifted last year. There she found a compelling blend of ancient marvels in a nation that is taking major strides into modernity.
09:25 AMHawaii locals are snitching on travellers who flout quarantine
Hawaii locals are snitching on travellers who flout quarantine
Volunteers are tracking down people who break Hawaii's two-week quarantine order on travellers.
A former TV reporter put her skills to use by uncovering clues from social media and using other information to identify those ignoring the rule. She founded a group called Hawaii Quarantine Kapu Breakers, which has found about 45 people who were then arrested by police.
According to the Hawaii tourist hub:
‘As a small remote island community, our residents are particularly vulnerable to the Covid-19 crisis. Hawaii Governor David Ige has asked that you postpone your trips to Hawaii to give us the opportunity to address this health crisis’
09:20 AMCases rise in South Africa as lockdown eases
Cases rise in South Africa as lockdown eases
South Africa has announced nearly 5,000 cases for a new daily record. The country - a Telegraph Travel reader favourite - has now recorded a total of 92,000 confirmed cases, which is about 30 per cent of all cases across the African continent.
Even as cases rise, President Cyril Ramaphosa this week announced a further loosening of what once was one of the world's strictest lockdowns. Casinos, beauty salons and sit-down restaurant service are among the latest businesses to be up and running again as South Africans feel the pain of the pandemic's economic impact.
But it's looking to be a long wait before foreign tourists can return. After a briefing from South Africa’s Department of Tourism on May 27, it was reported that domestic tourism won’t resume in full until December 2020, and international tourism won’t resume in South Africa until February 2021.
“Based on the COVID-19 epidemic expected trajectory, the first phase of the recovery for the sector will be driven by domestic tourism, followed by regional tourism and international tourism next year,” confirmed Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane last month.
09:13 AMVictoria to extend state of emergency after spike in Covid-19 cases
Victoria to extend state of emergency after spike in Covid-19 cases
The Victorian Government in Australia has announced it will extend its state of emergency for at least four more weeks and ramp up its police enforcement of lockdown rules after a spike in Covid-19 cases.
The surge has also prompted neighbouring South Australia to reconsider its decision to reopen its domestic border, while all of greater Melbourne has been declared a Covid-19 hotspot.
Yesterday, Qantas cancelled most of its international flights until late October following the government's revelation that its international borders are likely to remain closed until 2021.
09:09 AMCan I now visit Spain?
Can I now visit Spain?
Sort of.
Yes, you'll be permitted to enter without being asked to self-isolate, but no, you won't skip the 14-day quarantine required upon your return to the UK.
And those hoping to swap Blighty for Barcelona do still face a few other barriers. The Foreign Office continues to advise against all but essential travel – so you are unlikely to find insurance if you decide to ignore it.
Oliver Smith has all the latest advice on visiting Spain.
09:04 AMWelcome back to Spain!
Welcome back to Spain!
The first foreign arrivals are trickling into Spain as the country today lifts its travel restrictions.
08:31 AMYesterday's top stories
Yesterday's top stories
Here's a recap:
- Britons permitted to enter Spain with no quarantine
- New Covid-19 outbreak in Portugal threatens air bridge
- Cruises in the US cancelled until mid-September
- UK passport backlog puts holidays at risk
- Ireland extends 14-day quarantine period until July 9
- Disneyland California staff want to delay reopening
- Some package holiday prices have dropped by half
- UK Airport testing could allow arrivals to skip quarantine
