Covid: Will you be able to go on holiday in 2021? It's a trip into the unknown
Many people dreaming of a summer holiday will look at today’s announcement about extra quarantine rules with dread.
The cost implications are huge with hotel quarantine at £1,750 per person if your destination is on the 'red list' and the tests before you return from a resort at around £100 per person.
However, currently holidays are illegal - and when that does change it is very possible that these rules will be changed too. We just can’t know for sure. As England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer says, making holiday bookings now can be “making guesses into the unknown”.
Scientists, politicians and the travel trade simply can’t answer the question yet about whether we will be on holiday this year in the UK or overseas.
That’s why many in the travel trade anticipate bookings coming late, with people keeping their flexibility to visit places that are open and safe.
What if you already have a holiday booking for 2021?
The largest package holiday providers have confirmed that, if they cancel a holiday because of government restrictions, customers will get a refund.
If you cancel a booking, you are less likely to be refunded, so consumer experts say you should consider waiting until the firm cancels.
Are bookings and prices increasing?
Today, TUI, the largest Tour Operator in the UK said it’s already got 2.8 million bookings and that prices paid are up 20%.
I looked at those figures and found 1.5 million of the bookings are from UK customers and half of those booked using refund vouchers from previously cancelled holidays - so they are not entirely new bookings.
The rise in prices paid seems to relate to many customers choosing to upgrade their holidays after so long without one.
The holiday dream is getting millions through these dark days - but the holiday reality is yet to become clear.