After the changes in travel advice in which the Spanish Islands, mainland Portugal and Cyprus, among others, turned orange, there was again uncertainty among consumers. Thousands of travelers who have booked a holiday before the start of summer are disappointed. At travel agency Prijsvrij Vakanties, the telephone was immediately red-hot. Recent research among more than 1.000 customers shows that more than 70% just want to travel, despite code orange.
On Friday 16 July, the travel advice for the Spanish Islands (including Mallorca, Ibiza and Tenerife) was changed from code yellow to code orange. Prijsvrij Vakanties received thousands of questions from customers who leave in the coming weeks. The reactions are mixed, some customers indicate that they prefer not to travel to an orange destination (29,6%). For those customers there are then two choices: cancel (32,9%) or rebook (67,1%). The latter usually happens to destinations with code yellow, such as Greece, Italy or Croatia. But the vast majority (70,4%) indicate that they simply want to go on holiday to the destination they originally booked, but now it is colored orange.
The most popular destinations with code yellow are: the Greek islands of Rhodes, Kos and Zakynthos. In addition, the Italian Rome and Sicily are popular. Why do customers still travel? The reasons that holidaymakers give as a result of which they choose to travel to an area with code orange are:
- We live here in the Netherlands in a (dark) red area, we have been vaccinated ourselves and our children have been tested negative. Then we are better off at the holiday destination, even if it is orange.
- Because the number of infections in a holiday country such as Spain and Turkey is lower than the number of infections in the Netherlands. In addition, it is no longer mandatory to go into quarantine upon return to the Netherlands.
Governments of holiday countries also like to see the Dutch come. The Spanish government is only too happy to welcome Dutch tourists. To encourage tourists to come to Spain, several Spanish regions have announced additional guarantees for travelers who contract corona during their holiday. In addition, in most cases consumers are simply insured when they travel, even with code orange or red, according to Price-free.
Also read: Corona card probably even redder, entry rules stricter