Nothing to lose by booking a foreign holiday, say experts
PEOPLE in Northern Ireland have “nothing to lose” by booking a summer holiday abroad this year, it has been claimed.
Stephen Torbitt from Reliable Travel in Belfast added that with reservations for 2022 already flying in, prices could soar if wouldbe holidaymakers leave it too long to make a booking.
He also said the Health Minister and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) “had caused confusion” with “premature statements” warning against foreign travel when “holiday companies are hoping to operate this summer”.
“Things are hopefully due to open up from May 17 so I would tell anyone wanting to book for July or August that they have nothing to lose,” Mr Torbitt said.
“If you book a summer holiday for this year and it doesn’t go ahead, you’ll get a full refund, or you can switch the booking to next summer.
“We’re already taking a lot of reservations for summer 2022 so if availability becomes an issue, prices will go up. The busier it gets, the more expensive it gets — generally speaking.”
Mr Torbitt also said he felt it should be the Executive making decisions on foreign travel and he called for clarity.
Earlier this week, Health Minister Robin Swann and Dr Michael Mcbride, the CMO, both said that foreign travel should be ruled out this summer. But First Minister Arlene Foster subsequently said it was “too soon” to make a definitive decision.
Sandra Corkin, managing director of Oasis Travel, branded the intervention by Mr Swann and Dr Mcbride as “unhelpful”.
“People are confused over messaging coming from health officials and the Executive,” the travel industry leader said.
“Let’s wait until we hear the proper guidelines before making any decisions on foreign travel.
“It’s unhelpful for the Minister and CMO to have made their comments ahead of recommendations from the Government’s global travel taskforce.
“It’s causing confusion when the official Government guidance is due to be issued by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on April 5. If anyone is worried, it’ll do no harm to wait until then before deciding what to do.”
Ms Corkin also said there are likely to be conditions of entry attached to foreign countries.
“You’ll probably need to have been vaccinated or have a negative Covid test for a lot of the places that travel is going to open up to,” she said.
“Travel is going to open up gradually. There will be places that you can’t go to for a while.
“Nothing has been set in stone but a lot of destinations have indicated that they will require anyone entering the country to be either vaccinated or have a negative Covid test.”
Under the current UK guidelines, international travel is banned until May 17. Ms Corkin said the majority of her customers are currently booking holidays for much later this year or for summer 2022.
She added that those still hoping to get away this June and July are waiting until April 5 before booking, although “some customers do want to book now”. “I advise anybody booking now to book a proper bonded Atol package that will be fully refundable in the event that the Government advises against travel to that destination,” she said.