Kirsty Mckenzie
BRITS are racing against the clock to exit Spain’s Balearic Islands before the quarantine deadline on Monday.
Earlier this week ministers announced that the Balearic Islands, including popular tourists hotspot Ibiza, would soon be downgraded from the UK Government’s green list
Despite having lower COVID rates than Britain, anyone returning to the UK from the islands after 4 am on Monday will have to quarantine.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced Ibiza, Majorca and Menorca were to be demoted to the amber list, less than a month after Brits were told they could fly to the Balearic Islands without facing quarantine on their return.
Prices of tourist hot spots such as Ibiza tripled within 24 hours of the Balearics being added to the green list last month – with the cost of heading to Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca and Malta surging by up to 200% after they were added to the quarantine-free areas.
Tickets for a return flight to Ibiza on July 3 and July 10 leapt from £149 to £314 while journeys on the same days to Mallorca jumped from £153 to £478.
Jet2 added 70 additional flights, and EasyJet added 50,000 extra seats to their summer flight programme in response but now both holidaymakers and airlines face uncertainty once again.
Flight prices from the islands have soared by as much as nine times, since the islands were added to the amber list.
Ryanair’s morning and evening trips from Palma de Mallorca to Manchester Airport have shot up from just £12 at the start of Wednesday to nearly £110, an hour before Mr Shapps’ announcement.
Saturday’s mid-afternoon British Airway flight from Ibiza to London Heathrow was priced at around £115. Within two hours, tickets for the same journey had increased to £220 – a 92 per cent increase.
The good news is that all travellers from England with two jabs will still be able to return from the Balearics quarantine free, even though they are on the amber list when travel rules change on Monday.
But young people who have yet to receive both vaccinations will be hit hard by the news that their dream holiday will have to end with a day of quarantine.
Furious holidaymakers took to Twitter to blast the Government for ‘taking the pi**and slamming the ‘on and off again rules’.
One user raged that there was ‘absolutely no point going abroad’ until next year while another fumed that it was ‘too much hassle’ to try to travel.
READ MORE:
- THE ONLY TOWN ON THE COSTA BLANCA THAT WILL SEE A CURFEW RETURN
- PETITION CALLS ON UK GOVT TO ALLOW VACCINATED EXPATS ON HOME VISITS WITHOUT A QUARANTINE
