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‘Sangrias by the pool’ as holidays expected to start from June, says Thomas Cook boss
The CEO of Thomas Cook said he expects “core holiday destinations” in the Mediterranean to start opening up from June.
Alan French said he was “increasingly confident” that the travel industry would restart by the middle of this month.
He said May 17 - the date when a handful of countries are expected to receive the green status - will be a “good first step” and added: “That will allow us to ramp up to holidays being available by end of June-July.”
He told Sky News: “There is the good news from Israel. There’s also the change in the Foreign Office advice to travel particularly to some of the Spanish, Greek islands and Portugal. Which is filling those of us dreaming of a holiday with visions of beaches and sangrias by pool sides. So it’s lifting everybody’s spirits.
“I think also the good news here is of the effectiveness of the vaccine, the lockdown programme is going to plan.
“So we’re expecting to see a number of destinations coming onto the green list quite quickly and then we are expecting to see most of the core holiday destinations open up for travel towards the end of June, July and August.”
On the cost of holidays, he added: “Hotel prices are probably lower than they’ve been. Airline prices are probably around par maybe slightly higher than in the past.
“The big unknown is the cost of the testing…we are working very hard with our suppliers to get that as low as possible. We are at £60 a test and we are hoping to get that lower through volume buys.
“So I don’t think that the price of a holiday in the Med this summer is going to be significantly more than it’s been in the past.
“If anything if you choose the destination correctly and book at the right time there’s some fantastic deals out there.”
Spain, Greece, France and the US are expected to be added to the green travel list by the end of June.
Although only a few are expected to get the status on May 17, the list will be reviewed every three weeks.
There is a meeting of senior ministers on Thursday to finalise plans the new travel system with an announcement expected on Friday to reveal the green list from May 17.
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