UK's summer getaway takes off but nothing like pre-Covid

London - Many British families think it’s all too much hassle to fly abroad and have opted again to holiday within the UK.

With all British schools now closed for the summer, airports and airlines were looking a tad more normal on Saturday, although the number of families heading off for warmer climes remains way down from before the coronavirus pandemic.

This weekend traditionally marks the great summer getaway from Britain, with airports jam-packed with excitable children and their anxious parents heading off mostly to the popular beach resorts of southern Europe, from Portugal’s Algarve coast in the west to the sun-soaked island nation of Cyprus to the east.

However, with travel to and from many popular destinations facing varying and often confusing quarantine and testing requirements, it’s clear that many British families think it’s all too much hassle and have opted again to holiday within the UK.

For the second year running, it’s all about the “staycation”.

Still, the numbers venturing abroad are certainly on the rise, partly as a result of the UK’s rapid rollout of coronavirus vaccines that has seen nearly 70 per cent of the adult population receive the requisite two doses and over 87 per cent get at least one dose.

The British government, which has been operating a traffic-light system for overseas travel, recently tweaked its rules to make it simpler for fully-vaccinated individuals and their families to travel. Now, anyone arriving back in England from “amber” list destinations — including Greece, Spain and the United States — are exempt from the government’s 10-day quarantine requirement subject to testing requirements.

Although France is on the “amber” list, anyone returning from there to England still has to quarantine for 10 days amid concerns over the beta variant first identified in South Africa.

For most people in Britain, though, getting on those flights will have to wait. There’s always next year.