Travel News

With travel restrictions now being lifted, holidaymakers are once again boarding flights for trips abroad, but consumers are being warned that their travel insurance may not provide as much financial protection against disruptions caused by the pandemic as they believe.

Although it is now legal to holiday in destinations on the Government’s green travel list, there is still the potential for flights or holidays to be cancelled due to the pandemic and travellers may not be permitted to board flights if they have a positive Covid-19 test result. As well as this, countries on the green travel list can be moved to the amber or red list, or these countries may decide to close their borders to UK holidaymakers.

While many holidaymakers believe that having travel insurance will protect them for many of these disruptions, research has found that few insurance policies will cover all these scenarios particularly if travel restrictions to the holiday destination are suddenly imposed by the Government or there are changes to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advice.

From next week, international travel will once again be allowed for those living in England and many consumers are expected to book trips to jet off for long-awaited holidays. While would-be holidaymakers will be keen to head away for a much-needed break, travelling this year is still not going to be the same as normal, with restrictions on which countries can and cannot be visited.

Here, we’ve looked at where travellers in England will be able to holiday from Monday 17 May 2021, as well as how holidaymakers can financially protect themselves if their holiday is cancelled due to COVID-19.

With the Prime Minister’s route out of lockdown on track and Cyprus announcing that it was happy to welcome UK holidays who can prove they have had two doses of the vaccine from May, many will be optimistic that they will get a holiday abroad this year.

Soon after Cyprus made its announcement, Portugal also revealed that it was keen to welcome UK holidaymakers this summer, and Spain and Greece have also suggested that they were both hoping to let tourist return when it is safe to do so. Meanwhile, after a long winter of lockdown, many UK consumers will be anxious to book a holiday abroad.

Although countries are keen to welcome UK tourists and many consumers will be keen to head abroad, summer holidays are still not guaranteed, and consumers may still lose their money if they book a holiday for 2021.

With Government warnings that we may not be able to travel abroad this summer, few will take the risk of booking a holiday at the moment, but for many consumers who have had 2020 holidays rebooked to 2021, they may be concerned about what will happen if their holiday this year gets cancelled as well.

For those who have a 2021 summer holiday booking, we’ve looked at what happens if the holiday is cancelled.