HOLIDAY bookings for October have overtaken the summer holidays, following uncertainty regarding trips abroad.
According to TravelSupermarket, holiday bookings have spiked in October, overtaking the July and August months.
While the summer holidays are often the most popular booking periods, especially for families, travel uncertainty has got travellers looking even further ahead than usual.
Covid vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi previously said, when asked if it was premature to be booking a trip abroad this summer: "Absolutely. I think it's far too early."
It echoes Health Secretary Matt Hancock who said earlier this month to advise caution if booking a holiday abroad this summer: "I’m going to Cornwall. And I have said before I think we’re going to have a great British summer.
"But we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then."
- EasyJet holidays in October from £199pp (or all-inclusive from £398pp) – book here
- TUI holidays in October from £268pp – book here
- Free Child Place TUI holidays in October from £358pp – book here
- Jet2 holidays in October from £289pp – book here
In the top five most booked destinations are Tenerife, Lanzarote and Majorca, showing Brits still want a Spanish holiday when they can go abroad.
Right now, holidays are off the cards due to the UK lockdown, while destinations such as Spain and the Netherlands have suspended flights from the UK due to the new Covid strain.
Some of the popular destinations which have massively dropped in price, according to TravelSupermarket's Emma Coulthurst are Crete in Greece, along with longer haul locations such as the Maldives and Dubai which have been a favourite during the lockdowns as well.
Countries such as Greece and Turkey may be welcoming Brits back sooner than Spain, due to the vaccination programme in each country.
Balearic Tourism Minister Iago Negueruela said that they were competing with other popular holiday destinations to be able to welcome tourists back as quickly and safely as possible.
He recently said: "We demand that the Spanish government complies with the vaccine supply plan and guarantees deadlines in order to reduce the epidemiological rate in the Balearic Islands and recover economic activity as soon as possible.”
And without a global vaccination programme, some experts have warned that summer holidays may struggle to return.
Sir Jeremy Farrah, a a member of the Government's SAGE, warned that the UK vaccination programme alone was not enough, and there needs to be an increase in global vaccinations to allow travellers to go abroad once again.
He said on BBC's Today Programme: "Travel restrictions can buy you time, but they do need to be comprehensive and they wont prevent variants arriving.
"They have to be very smart and comprehensive and go on a very long time.
"Look at what Australia and New Zealand are going through with their travel restrictions."
The UK recently announced new hotel quarantine restrictions, which will affect 33 countries which could be in place from February 8.
The new rules mean anyone returning from one of the high-risk countries on the list will have to pay to self-isolate at a hotel for 10 days, at their own expense.
Dubai was added to the high-risk list from today, meaning anyone returning from the UAE will eventually have to stay at a quarantine hotel.
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