Tui has introduced Covid-19 cover to be included for all customers travelling with the operator between July 11 and December 31, and unveiled an expansion of its summer programme.
The new cover, which is designed to be used alongside customers’ personal travel insurance, will apply to all new and existing bookings, and will offer elements including:
- Overseas Covid-19 testing for suspected cases
- Overseas medical assistance if a customer contracts COVID-19 while on holiday
- Costs associated with an extended stay and a new return flight home if customers are asked to self-isolate while on holiday.
- Dedicated 24/7 emergency hotline and app
The UK market leader is also expanding its summer programme to Spain and Greece from July 25, adding to the four Spanish destinations available from Saturday and the four Greek destinations available from July 15.
It will then offer more options in Greece and Turkey from August 1.
The increase will expand the number of destinations offered by Tui from August 1 to 24, with flights from 12 UK airports. The operators plans to introduce more destinations in Portugal, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco as government restrictions are eased.
Tui’s newly-announced destinations and routes are:
| Country & airport | First flight date | New UK departure airports |
| Spain: Menorca Greece: Zakynthos | 25th July | Bristol |
| Turkey: Dalaman Greece: Chania | 1st August | Glasgow, Newcastle, East Midlands, Doncaster, Cardiff, Stansted, Bournemouth & Exeter. |
Andrew Flintham, managing director of Tui UK & Ireland, said: “Many of our customers have been waiting with eager anticipation to hear about whether they could go on holiday this summer, so we’re delighted that our first customers will depart this weekend. We’ve done a lot of work to ensure we can take our customers on relaxing, enjoyable and – most importantly – safe holidays again and it’s really exciting to be able to offer our customers additional peace of mind when booking with us, with our new Covid-19 Cover.
“It means that they can book with confidence, knowing that extra costs associated with Covid-19 that wouldn’t be covered by regular travel insurance, will be taken care of.”
Referring to the planned expansion of its summer programme, he added: “We understand the need to be flexible, and may need to adapt and modify our plans as we go along. If we do need to cancel more holidays in line with government advice, all affected customers will be able to receive a full refund.
“Our Tui Holiday Promise still stands, so our customers can rest assured that if we think they can’t enjoy their Tui holiday as they intended, we won’t take them there.
“We know some people may not feel confident travelling right now, but we’re inviting them to start looking forward to holidays again, and we can’t wait to take them away whenever they choose to join us.”
