Foreign holiday bookings soar after Cyprus opens the door

DEMAND for foreign holidays has soared after a wave of sunspots said they would welcome back Brits.

Cyprus was first to announce those with two jabs would be allowed in from May without the need to quarantine.

Greece is now in talks with the UK about also allowing vaccinated Brits to visit as early as May while Portugal, the Seychelles, and the Canary and Balearic islands, all want to reopen to tourists who test negative. Turkey and mainland Spain may soon follow suit.

Vaccination rates in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus are at about 6.5 per cent while 60 per cent of people in the Seychelles have been jabbed.

Leaving the UK for foreign holidays will not be allowed until at least May 17.

But David Child, of Thomas Cook, said the firm had seen a 25 per cent rise in bookings to Cyprus.

He said: “Families have returned in quarantine-free travel to restart as soon as possible. Some three million UK tourists visit the nation each year. From tomorrow, anyone leaving England must fill in a “Declaration to Travel” document online stating their trip is permitted. Those who fail to do so could be fined £200.

The Department of Transport says it was keeping measures DEMAND Child under “constant review”. their droves to book precious weeks in the sun.” EasyJet said “pent-up demand” had caused bookings to leap while Tui has seen “a real uptick”.

Brits made over a million trips to Cyprus in 2019.

Portugal is on the UK’s red list of high-risk countries, meaning travellers coming from there have to quarantine in a hotel in the UK.

But officials in Lisbon want