As Boris Johnson announced his roadmap out of the current lockdown in England on Monday, he hinted that from May 17th international travel COULD be restarted.
The current stagnation that the pandemic has forced tourism to face has meant that the economy on the islands has tanked causing many businesses to close and many people left without jobs. Additionally, airlines have been struggling and this news that holidays could restart gives hope of a bumper summer.
It is reported that holiday bookings have soared as much as 600% with this news, where TUI UK saw a surge of 500% and EasyJet saw a 600% surge. Also for EasyJet, they said that flight bookings (not including a hotel) have jumped by 300%.
Furthermore, airlines have seen the bookings take place from July onwards with EasyJet saying that August has been the most popular month. With this in mind, it looks almost firm that the summer could be a saving grace for both the islands and airlines alike which have struggled without tourists.
However, the hopeful date of May 17th is subject to a review on April 12th with Boris Johnson stating that decisions will be "led by data, not dates". Therefore until an announcement is made tourists and airlines cannot make their summer plans concrete.