UK: Holiday bookings surge following lockdown exit plans

Airlines say they have already seen a surge in bookings, following the Prime Minister's announcement of the road map out of lockdown. Boris Johnson said a global travel taskforce would put forward a report on how to return to international travel on 12 April. The government would then make a decision on removing restrictions on international travel. However this would not happen until 17 May at the earliest. Tui reported that they had had their best day of bookings in over a month, with strong interest in Greece, Spain and Turkey for the summer. Thomas Cook said traffic to its website was up over 100% on Monday from 15:00 GMT onwards, with bookings already "flooding in" for countries like Greece, Cyprus, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. EasyJet also reported a 337% surge in flight bookings and a 630% jump in holiday bookings for locations like Alicante, Malaga, Palmo, Faro and Crete. Bookings are strongest in August, followed by July and then September. "The government's announcement today is good news for those of us desperate to get away on holiday," said Thomas Cook's CE Alan French.<br/>