THERE was some good news from Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday who said that summer holidays may be possible this year and this led to a surge in bookings. Now, where tourists go may not be up to the British government at all. At the moment British tourists are banned from Spain until at least early next month. It is part of the European Union-wide ban because of Covid.
This ban was introduced in January and it has been renewed twice. If it was renewed again in March then it could cause some serious problems for British holidaymakers. Most people who have booked their holidays are being very sensible.
They are booking for August, when, if all goes well, things should have returned to normal. While, there was some cause for euphoria on Monday there are still many hurdles to be overcome until Britons can safely say that they will be going on their holidays. Apart from the travel ban there is the vaccine passport which Spain wants to introduce sooner rather than later.
The Spanish authorities and even the local government want to get the holiday industry moving but not at all costs. They will continue to put, quite rightly, public health first. Also, I believe that it will be a very limited summer season with only 50 percent of hotels being open.
We are certainly moving in the right direction and there is light at the end of the tunnel, but it is a very long tunnel. Fingers crossed that everything will be alright on the night.