ABTA – The Travel Association has responded to the changes to Spain’s travel rules which means, from 14 February, children aged between 12 and 17 who are not yet fully vaccinated can instead presented a negative test (PCR or equivalent).

An ABTA spokesperson said:

“Spain’s change in travel rules will mean more and more families will be able to enjoy a break in one of the UK’s most popular overseas holiday destinations. This along with the UK also relaxing its travel requirements, means it is getting easier for people to set off on their long-awaited holidays abroad.

“With two thirds of families saying their holidays are more important to them now than before the pandemic, the latest changes should give more people confidence to book their much-missed foreign holiday and many are expected to enlist the help of a travel agent or tour operator to do so.”

Increasing numbers of families are saying that they are also more likely to book their holiday through a travel agent or tour operator.

New figures from ABTA, out today, finds people with children under 16 are 50% more likely to book with a travel professional now than before the pandemic (compared with 30% more likely for the population as a whole) primarily for the security of a package holiday (43%), followed by guidance with COVID-19 travel requirements (35%).¹

Spain tops ABTA’s poll of the ten destinations people are keen to visit this year, as listed below - with the figures showing the percentage of people who said they plan to visit each country.¹

1.    Spain (29.3%)
2.    USA (18.1%)
3.    France (17.8%)
4.    Italy (16.4%)
5.    Greece (10.1%)
6.    Portugal (8.7%)
7.    Germany (8.2%)
8.    Australia (5.1%)
9.    Canada (4.5%)
10.    Turkey (4.0%)

ABTA is advising holidaymakers to regularly check the latest requirements for their destination at www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice and to book with an ABTA Member for expert help and advice.

ABTA has comprehensive advice for travelling during the pandemic at www.abta.com/readysteadytravel, which includes a new webpage to guide holidaymakers through the main things they need to know about travelling abroad this February (www.abta.com/februarytravel).
 
Notes to editors
¹ABTA research from a nationally representative sample of 2,000 consumers related to holiday booking habits and future travel plans. Fieldwork was conducted in the last two weeks of August 2021 by The Nursery Research and Planning (www.the-nursery.net/). ‘Families’ refers to all survey respondents living in a household with children under 16.

About ABTA
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 around 4,000 travel brands in Membership, providing a wide range of leisure and business travel services, with a combined pre-pandemic annual UK turnover of £40 billion. For more details about what we do, what being an ABTA Member means and how we help the UK public travel with confidence visit www.abta.com.