Tour operators Shearings Holidays and Titan Travel have announced cancellations because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Shearings Holidays has cancelled coach and self-drive breaks, while Titan said it will suspend all of its touring and cruising programme – both until April 30.
A message on the Shearings website this morning said: “As you know there has been extensive advice from the government, regarding non-essential travel.
“We are therefore sorry to inform you that we are unable to operate our coach holidays and self-drive breaks, up to and including 30th April 2020.
“Our call centre will be incredibly busy so we ask that you do not call us.
“We will call you in date departure order, to rearrange your holiday, as we have some urgency around tours that were due to depart this Friday 20th March.
“We ask all customers to please be patient and we will contact you as soon as possible.”
It also said that any new insurance policy sold from Monday March 16 will not cover clients for coronavirus-related claims.
The same message has also been posted on the Shearings Facebook page.
The message on Titan’s website today said: “Due to the ongoing outbreak of Covid-19 across the world, Titan has made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend all operation of its touring programme from 16 March 2020 until 30 April 2020.
“Whilst we know this decision will bring disappointment to many of our customers, we believe this is the responsible action needed to ensure the safety and well being of our customers and employees at this time.
“We wish to welcome all customers affected back on a Titan tour at a later date when we are confident we can deliver the high-quality experience that is expected from a Titan holiday.
“Due to the high volume of bookings affected, we kindly ask you to refrain from contacting the team at this time. We will be contacting all customers in order of departure date with bookings set to depart within the next 48 hours treated as priority.”
UPDATE: Shearings Holidays has moved to a four-day week because of the drop-off in demand.
Jane Atkins, managing director at Shearings Holidays, commented: “Like many others in the UK travel sector, we have been affected by a short-term reduction in demand in recent weeks.
“To manage the impact of this, we are taking steps to protect the employment of our loyal and professional workforce.”