The boss of Caribtours has urged airlines to act swiftly to add capacity on routes to the Caribbean after several islands were added to the government’s green list.
He welcomed the expansion of the list to destinations such as Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
It means that those arriving into the UK from 4am on Wednesday (June 30) will not have to quarantine.
He reported an immediate response from customers calling about holidays after last week’s announcement but said airlines must respond fast.
“The airlift is going to be a problem. We need the airlines to really be quick because all of this is for nothing unless there is enough capacity,” he told a Travel Weekly webcast.
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Jet2 adds capacity for summer 2022 from Newcastle
He said Virgin Atlantic had reacted swiftly, adding: “On Thursday night, they texted me 11 o’clock at night to tell me that they’d be getting something out because they had got some special offer fares.
“Airlift is everything. Without the planes – enough planes going to Barbados or to Grenada or to Antigua – then all of this has been for nothing. The sooner we get that fixed, the better.”
He said hoteliers in the Caribbean were “very pleasantly surprised” and “thrilled” by the news but urged caution because there can be rapid changes in entry restrictions.
Furthermore, hotels that Caribtours uses for its clients are “being filled by American visitors who are flooding in” because they are not subjected to restrictions.
The owner of Haslemere Travel, Gemma Antrobus, said there was a similar issue with airlift and hotel availability in European destinations.
“These allocations that tour operators have had before have been given to the Germans and given to the Swiss, to whoever else is travelling, because the Brits aren’t filling those beds,” she said.
“We’re going to get to a point where there aren’t any beds because the other nations have been travelling more freely, or the Americans have taken them.”
Chris Wright, managing director of Sunvil, agreed, saying availability is becoming “more and more difficult”.
“We had a crisis meeting on Thursday night, after the announcement, to look at our bed stock and flight availability into the peak season,” he said, explaining that the operator cannot guarantee to hoteliers that guests will arrive from the UK.
He said operators face a “juggling act” about handing back some allocations for this summer and looking at 2022 availability.
However, flight capacity to Europe is normally “a lot easier to switch on and switch off”, he added.
“We saw how Jet2 switched on capacity to those destinations that went green. We should be ok,” he said.