Holidaymakers rush to booking with Turkey, Spain and Greece as top destinations

Following Boris Johnson announcement of the roadmap out of lockdown and back to normality last night, holiday bookings have surged overnight.

Johnson also announced the global travel taskforce puts forward a report by 12 April on how to return to international travel.

The government said a decision on easing international travel would not happen until mid-May at the earliest.

But this hasn’t put off travels who have booked their summer holiday already.

Tui said its bookings for July-onwards had soared by 500% overnight. Turkey, Spain and Greece had been the most-booked destinations, the company said.

EasyJet said flight bookings jumped by more than 300%. Beach destinations such as Malaga, Alicante and Palma in Spain, the Algarve in Portugal, and Crete in Greece were the most popular as the country sought something to look forward to after a winter stuck at home.

Jet2 saw a 600% increase in summer holiday bookings after the announcement, with bookings surging for destinations across the board including Mainland Spain and its islands, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey.

Similarly, Thomas Cook said it saw a 100 per cent surge on its website traffic after the announcement.

Most bookings were made for August, but July and September were also popular.