A surge in international flight bookings for Greece, Portugal and Spain is being reported as the countries stage a recovery in tourism for this summer.
The number of international flight tickets issued for Greece in the two weeks to June 3 rose from effectively zero to 35% of the level during the same period in 2019.
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Portugal saw a similar resurgence while to uplift to Spain reached 30%.
Leisure travellers account for the bulk of new tickets, but recovery has been stronger amongst expats and people visiting friends and relatives.
In that niche, air tickets to Greece, Portugal, and Spain, reached 89%, 87% and 54% of 2019 levels respectively, according to the latest data from travel analytics firm ForwardKeys.
The jump in demand came as Portugal announced plans to reopen its borders to foreign tourists from June 15, Greece from July 1 and Spain also from next month.
However, booking levels remain well behind last year’s levels with many people reluctant to fly, coupled with restrictions such as the UK’s controversial new 14-daya quarantine rule and Foreign Office advice against international travel.
ForwardKeys insights vice president Olivier Ponti said: “When governments tell people they are again allowed to travel, bookings immediately start to come back.
“However, given that there should be strong pent up demand for holidays in southern Europe in July and August, the relatively low booking levels, compared to 2019, suggest that many people are still reluctant to fly.
“With bookings for Greece, Portugal and Spain respectively 49.8%, 52% and 53.5% behind where they were at the beginning of June 2019, it will be challenging for any of those countries to rescue their summer holiday season.”
The aviation market has been in a state of “suspended animation” for most of April and May with almost nobody booking anything, he added.
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