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LONDON/MADRID, July 29 (Reuters) - TUI UK said on Wednesday
it had cancelled holidays to the Spanish Balearic and Canary
Islands until Aug. 4 after Britain advised against travel there,
acting on advice that has left Spain facing a deeper economic
hit from the coronavirus crisis.
Madrid reacted angrily to recommendations from Britain and
Germany that their citizens avoid its islands and beaches,
advice that has shredded hopes of a swift revival in the tourist
industry that accounts for about 12% of Spain's economic output.
Another British tour operator Jet2 has already
scrapped flights and holidays to the Spanish islands until at
least Aug. 10.
The cancellations prompted warnings that Spanish hotels
might have to shutdown again.
"The reaction of the market could be seen immediately: the
reservations were cancelled massively and hotels which had
opened and depend only on Britain’s tourism, as clients return
home, they will close down again," said Maria Frontera, the head
of a hotel association in Mallorca, the largest Balearic island.
Britons were less inclined to consider Spanish destinations
after Britain brought back a 14-day quarantine rule for arrivals
from Spain, according to flight search engine Skyscanner.
Searches for Spanish airports dropped out of Britain's top
10 most searched destinations on Sunday, the day after the
announcement on quarantine, with Greece's Corfu and Crete
replacing Spain's Alicante, Malaga, Tenerife and Palma.
Britain's guidance to avoid all but essential travel to the
islands, was issued on Monday, bringing the islands in line with
travel advice to mainland Spain.
TUI UK, which had already cancelled holidays to mainland
Spain until Aug. 10, criticised Britain for extending its
recommendations across the whole of Spain when the outbreaks had
only affected particular regions.
"We ... call upon the UK Government to work closely with the
travel industry and remove the ‘blunt tool’ approach to
quarantine and consider the rapid introduction of regional
Travel Corridors," said Andrew Flintham, the managing director
of TUI UK and Ireland.
"The level of uncertainty and confusion created this week is
damaging for business and customer confidence in travel," he
said.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout, Inti Landauro and Sarah Young;
Editing by Kate Holton and Edmund Blair)
