ABTA – The Travel Association is welcoming the return of summer holidays abroad after the Government announced that the Foreign Office will set out exemptions for a number of destinations from its global advisory against ‘all but essential’ international travel, with changes coming into effect on 4 July 2020. Furthermore, the Government has announced the lifting of quarantine restrictions in England for visitors and returning passengers from many overseas destinations from 10 July 2020. 

Travel in this new environment is likely to be different, and ABTA has a new customer-focused webpage titled ‘Restarting travel – a guide for customers’ at abta.com/restartingtravel, which is designed to take travellers through extra steps to consider.

Here’s ABTA’s checklist for customers looking to book their longed-for break in the sun:

ABTA’s Holiday Checklist

• When planning your trip check the latest FCO travel advice for the destination you are planning to travel to so you can make an informed choice before you book your holiday and visit the FCO’s Travel Aware page which has guidance on staying safe abroad.
• Sign up to FCO travel advice alerts – you can do this by searching for a country or territory and signing up for email updates on its page. This will mean you receive helpful updates such as entry requirements and health and safety measures.
• Seek help from an ABTA travel professional who can give you advice on where to travel, source the best deals for you and provide you with the protections offered by a package holiday.
• Take out insurance as soon as you have booked your holiday and make sure it covers you for all the activities you want to do. Carry the policy number and insurance phone number on you and leave a copy of the policy with a family member or friend.

Mark Tanzer, ABTA Chief Executive said “There is pent up demand for holidays both at home and overseas after over three months of travel restrictions. Now these are beginning to be lifted customers will need guidance on where and when they can go, how to get the best deals and how safeguards against Covid-19 will affect their holiday arrangements. ABTA has put together a handy checklist which will help customers in their search for a much-needed overseas break.”

Notes to editors
ABTA has been a trusted travel brand for 70 years. Our purpose is to help our Members to grow their businesses successfully and sustainably, and to help their customers travel with confidence. 

The ABTA brand stands for support, protection and expertise. This means consumers have confidence in ABTA and a strong trust in ABTA Members. These qualities are core to us as they ensure that holidaymakers remain confident in the holiday products that they buy from our Members. 

We help our Members and their customers navigate through today's changing travel landscape by raising standards in the industry; offering schemes of financial protection; providing an independent complaints resolution service should something go wrong; giving guidance on issues from sustainability to health and safety and by presenting a united voice to government to ensure the industry and the public get a fair deal.

ABTA has more than 4,300 travel brands in Membership, providing a wide range of leisure and business travel services, with a combined annual UK turnover of £39 billion. For more details about what we do, what being an ABTA Member means and how we help the British public travel with confidence visit www.abta.com.