Interest in holidays to new green list destinations has soared overnight in the wake of the government announcing traffic light travel changes.
Malta jumped from 17th to the fifth most searched spot for a package holiday for the first time after the announcement of changes from next Wednesday.
Barbados rose from 12th most searched, according to newly-released travel search site TravelSupermarket.
The most searched locations since the green list addition announcement were Barbados, Majorca, Ibiza, Malta and Menorca.
Spokeswoman Emma Coulthurst said: “Even though the announcement was made late in the day, we’ve still seen uptick in package holiday price comparison searches:
+1047% Barbados
+837% Malta
+133% Portugal (Madeira)
+183% Spain
“Clearly, these percentage increases need to be placed in the context of general supressed travel demand at the moment due to restrictions.
“But, still, it shows an immediate interest in getting away to the new green list destinations, selected because coronavirus rates are low and vaccination rates are high there.”
Greece is still attracting interest as Crete, Corfu, Rhodes, Zante and Kos remain on FCDO’s “OK to travel” list, she added.
“People will be hoping that quarantine will be dropped on return.”
Skyscanner also released latest data on the most searched destinations by volume over the past 24 hours:
- Ibiza
- Palma Majorca
- Luqa
- Valetta
- Menorca
- Madeira
- Malta
- Everywhere
- New York
- Bridgetown
Change in search volumes verses the previous day, selected green list destinations:
- UK to Portugal +165%
- UK to Madeira +1749%
- UK to Palma + 690%
- UK to Menorca +824%
- UK to Ibiza +845%
- UK to Malta +809%
- UK to Barbados +1200%
- UK to Bermuda +982%
Club Med reported web traffic for its Turks & Caicos resort in the Caribbean up 145% since the green list announcements, but the all-inclusive specialist’s UK managing director said the UK is bhind the rest of Europe for restarting travel.
Estelle Giraudeau said: “It is still so incredibly disappointing to have such few countries added to the UK government’s green list and with all new destinations (with the exception of Malta) being added to a green watch list.
“Of course this doesn’t instil huge confidence in Brits booking trips in the knowledge that a country’s status can change at a moment’s notice. That being said, we are pleased that our guests can once again return to our Turks & Caicos resort, Turkoise and hope this remains in place over the course of the summer and beyond.”
She added: “The UK government needs to recognise that the rest of Europe has continued to move forward with easing travel restrictions, yet the UK is once again being left behind, with Brits at risk of missing out on hotel and resort availability in popular destinations should they change in status later in the summer.
“The delay in opening up travel to those who are fully-vaccinated is also another setback for resuming international travel more freely and Club Med, along with the rest of the sector will continue to apply pressure to instil change and get the travel industry back on its feet.”