TUI Readies to Fly Holidaymakers to Spain from July 11 if UK Lifts Quarantine

UK tour operator TUI has announced that it will fly British holidaymakers to eight European destinations, including Spain’s Tenerife, Lanzarote, Ibiza and Mallorca from July 11, as it “is confident” the UK’s 14-day quarantine for arrivals will be lifted by then.

TUI has announced that it will fly British tourists to Spain’s Canary Islands of Tenerife and Lanzarote, as well as the Balearics’ Mallorca and Ibiza from Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham airports.  It also plans to fly British tourists to the Greek islands of Crete, Corfu, Kos and Rhodes.

The news comes as a huge relief to Spain’s tourism industry, especially after yesterday’s announcement from TUI stating “it would only fly holidaymakers to countries that have “air bridges” or a reciprocal agreement with the UK, as reported. However, TUI’s Commercial Director Richard Sofer “is confident” that by the time the company’s tours start in July, the UK will have lifted the 14-day quarantine, which is currently imposed on all arrivals.

Thanks to the company’s size and influence, Sofer said that TUI has been “able to have a presence in each of those government conversations” and as a result the company is “well-informed of where those discussions are”. “Obviously many of those conversations are confidential but that gives us great confidence to open up a small programme to a couple of really key countries, eight key gateways for us,” he added. “We have absolute confidence that we’re going to be getting a positive result from the government in time for July.”