03 Dec
2021

As Transport Secretary says ‘go book’ a foreign holiday, ABTA provides advice on how to book with confidence

With the Transport Secretary today saying ‘go book’ a foreign holiday, ABTA is providing advice to help people book and travel with confidence.

The transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, made the comments in a podcast today where he was talking about foreign holidays and the temporary travel requirements introduced earlier this week.

The temporary measures, which were introduced on Tuesday, mean people travelling to the UK who are fully vaccinated now need to take a PCR test before or on the second day after arriving in the country, and self-isolate until they receive a negative result.

As well as saying that people can book a holiday – with a provider offering flexible booking policies and with appropriate travel insurance – Mr Shapps also pointed out that people can take a PCR test at the airport when they arrive back in the UK and get the test result very quickly, which cuts down the self-isolation period.
People can still book and travel abroad on a foreign holiday and as we head towards the peak booking period when people will start to think about their holidays for next year, ABTA has provided advice to help people book with confidence.

As part of the advice, ABTA is encouraging people to book a package holiday for the greatest level of protection, to look out for flexible booking conditions and take out insurance. It says many ABTA Members are offering additional benefits or flexible cancellation and rebooking policies, such as allowing you to change your arrangements free of charge at a later date if needed.

ABTA also says that people should book with an ABTA Member travel agent or tour operator as they have up-to-date advice and expertise and can guide you through what you need to do when you travel.

ABTA’s top tips for booking with confidence:

  • Book a package holiday for the greatest level of protection.
  • Look out for flexible booking policies – many companies are offering additional flexibility as part of their terms and conditions.
  • Use the expertise of an ABTA Member to help plan your trip and navigate the latest advice.
  • Check the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office advice for your destination to find the latest entry requirements and any local measures relating to Coronavirus.
  • Check the Government’s website to find out what you need to do for your journey back to the UK.
  • Take out travel insurance as soon as you book and check its cover for Coronavirus.

ABTA’s advice on travelling during the pandemic can be found at www.abta.com/readysteadytravel

Notes to editors

ABTA has been a trusted travel brand for over 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.