FAMILIES thinking of booking a holiday this summer are being urged to do it sooner rather than later – or even more airlines and tour operators are likely to go bust.
Many travel companies have faced mass cancellations due to last-minute travel restrictions, as well as grounded flights.
EasyJet reported their first ever full-year loss in its 25-year history, of £1.27billion, while Ryanair and BA have made thousands redundant.
A number of tour operators including STA Travel and Fleetway Travel have also gone under during the pandemic.
By booking holidays now, holiday companies will get an injection of cash to keep them afloat.
With the majority of tour operators ATOL protected, this means families are protected if they book a trip only for the firm to go bust anyway.
PC Agency's Paul Charles told the Telegraph: "Bookings are needed urgently, so that revenues flow in now to help protect jobs."
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He added that without it, many will be "unable to stagger through to the summer".
A number of companies, on the condition of anonymity, told the Telegraph unless they had bookings in the next few weeks, they would most likely go bust and be forced to close for good.
Not only will booking a holiday now help the travel industry, but families are being warned that prices will never be as low as they are now.
Uncertainty and lack of demand means flights and package holidays are very cheap, which include £9.99 flights to Europe with Ryanair or seven nights in Europe with Love Holidays for under £150.
Holidays abroad are likely to return by May, according to Paul Charles, with the vaccine rollout providing hope for some form of normality again.
Emma Coulthurst from holiday price comparison site TravelSupermarket said: "Once quarantines are cut dramatically or completely and there is cheap and widely available testing and an extensive roll-out of covid vaccines, there are unlikely to be the rock bottom prices which you can currently snap up."
There may even be a lack of options due to reduced capacity from airlines and a soaring of demand from families.
Not only that, but holidaymakers who had their 2020 summer holidays may have moved them to 2021 – further reducing the options.
TUI has warned that half of their May holidays are already sold out and that holiday prices for summer 2021 are more expensive than last year due to demand.
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