Essex travel agents report 'flurry' of Easter holiday bookings as last Covid restrictions lifted
Passengers coming into the country no longer need to test
Last updated 18th Mar 2022
Going on holiday from the UK to a foreign country is now a lot easier, as the government has scrapped all remaining Coronavirus travel restrictions for vaccinated and non-vaccinated people.
When arriving into the country you no longer need to fill out passenger locator forms or get tested.
Liz Mathews, from travel agent Flight Centre, which has a branch in Chelmsford, says they've seen lots of people rushing to get some sun in during the Easter holidays: "We've seen Easter bookings looking very, very strong from a booking perspective...
"With last year very much a stay at home Easter holiday period, we've definitely seen families moving back to have the confidence to travel to more long haul destinations which is great to see. "We've certainly got a flurry of last minute activity now."
More generally, she said they'd had an increase in bookings since the news broke: "What we've seen is a gradual return from the traveling public, probably depending on their personal level of confidence.
"From the end of September when some of the significant restrictions started to be lifted we saw the early adopters and the really keen travellers getting out there straight away, and now what we're seeing is those people that were a little bit more cautious finally saying: 'Do you know what? This is easy again, I don't have to worry about any bureaucracy, I don't have any forms to fill in and I'm confident now that travel is going to happen.'"
Liz is now feeling optimistic looking to the future: "From a flights perspective, we've had points where demand has far outstripped pre-pandemic levels, so we're definitely getting back to pre-pandemic levels and it's great to see."
She thinks the public's demand for travel will continue: "We don't think this is a quick peak that's then going to drop off. There's a huge amount of travel that people have missed out on over the last couple years and we definitely expect the the demand is going to remain strong."