Updated 10.10am
Thousands of British tourists rushed to book holidays to Malta even before the UK government formally announced quarantine-free travel to the island from Wednesday.
Air Malta and UK travel agent Thomas Cook both told Times of Malta that holidaymakers were eager to book trips as soon as it became clear they would not need to quarantine upon returning from the island.
The majority of those booking trips intend to travel soon, with the majority coming over in July. Some will also be travelling as early as this weekend.
Speaking to Times of Malta following the update to the UK’s travel list on Thursday evening, Air Malta chief commercial officer Roy Kinnear said the airline marked the “first day in a long time” that it recorded positive booking activity from the UK.
According to Kinnear, over a thousand bookings for the London to Malta flight came in through the day on Thursday, even before the UK government made its announcement.
Around 600 bookings were for travel in July, Kinnear said, suggesting holidaymakers were eager to travel to the island.
“We had a very busy evening,” Kinnear said.
Air Malta schedules
Asked whether the airline would be reviewing its decision to scale down its flights to the UK while Malta was still off the green list, Kinnear said Air Malta has the capacity to “load more” but it would be waiting for some final clarifications from the health authorities before updating schedules.
“London will remain our priority.”
On travel from other countries, Kinnear said demand from mainland Europe remains strong and is actually “better than expected” although there was still some degree of caution from some.
Bookings up, mostly for July
And in the UK, a similar bookings rush was also reported.
According to a spokesperson for Thomas Cook, one of the biggest travel agents in the UK, “people are booking Malta in their droves”.
“Mostly for immediate travel – as early as this weekend and then into July,” the spokesperson said.
On Thursday, bookings to Malta were “at least three times higher” than previous days.
“People of all ages, mostly couples, are booking holidays for immediate travel and are mostly staying in four-star hotels around the island for at least a week.
Air Malta has the capacity to increase its UK routes, but is adopting a cautious approach for now. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli“Bookings are mostly for July with some booked for later in the summer and into September but it’s clear that people are delighted to be able to head back to Malta and revisit this much-loved holiday island,” the spokesperson said.
He urged the government to accept the NHS app as part of its new rule to only allow British vaccinated passengers into Malta.
Vaccine certification requirements
In the wake of the green list announcement, the government said travel from the UK will only be allowed for those travellers in possession of a “recognised vaccine certificate”.
Currently, only the Maltese vaccine certificate is officially recognised.
Health authorities clarified on Saturday that UK vaccine passes would be recognised by local authorities as valid for entry into Malta as of July 1. So too would COVID-19 passes issued by EU member states, they said.
Medical Association of Malta president Martin Balzan said it was positive that the authorities were asking for a certificate from those coming from the UK, but he urged extra precautions and negative PCR test results should also be demanded.
Balzan said his concern was not about the effectiveness of the vaccine but spread of the Delta variant, which is prevalent in the UK.
“If in the next two to three weeks we get a spike in Delta variant cases, we risk being put on the red lists of other countries and our tourism industry will be on its knees once again,” Balzan said.
He also urged the authorities to be cautious when permitting mass events now that the numbers of tourists is expected to increase.