Save our Summer tourism alliance campaigns for overseas holidays

Members of the group called ‘Save our Summer’ have combined pre-Covid annual revenues of more than £11 billion and include Trailfinders, easyJet Holidays, Travelopia and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

They are urging consumers to ignore ministers’ ‘don’t book’ travel advice and guarantee that anyone booking through them will be entitled to either a refund or a change of date if travel is cancelled or not possible due to government Covid-19 restrictions. The members argue that vulnerable groups in the UK should have been vaccinated twice by mid-May, leading to reduced Covid pressure on the NHS.

Vaccinations in the UK well under way

The UK government said it hit its target of giving the first four priority groups their first jab on Sunday and confirmed 15 million jabs had been given out so far. Without a target date for the re-opening of overseas travel, the group fears consumers will delay booking due to lack of confidence. They point to data from the World Travel and Tourism Council, which suggests up to 2.4 million travel and tourism jobs in the UK could be lost as a result.

TUI CEO Fritz Joussen last week hailed the UK’s ‘amazing’ vaccination progress, and said ‘there is no reason to be pessimistic’ about the summer.

Summer might be ‘too soon’

EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren called for a UK government plan to lift restrictions on travel. But Emirates President Sir Tim Clark warned that the summer may be ‘too soon’ for a ‘meaningful restart’ of international travel.

Other members of Save Our Summer include Mr & Mrs Smith, DialAFlight, Audley Travel, True Travel, Wild Frontiers, &Beyond Group, Elegant Resorts, Campbell Gray Hotels, Celebrity Cruises, Steppes Travel and more.