On The Beach pulls plug on the sale of Scots summer holidays amid Covid uncertainty

On The Beach will not sell holidays to Scots travellers until September at the earliest amid uncertainty over Covid restrictions.

The travel firm announced that it would be taking holidays off sale for June, July and August until further notice.

A statement released by On The Beach says that the move is ‘temporary’ and hopes to get customers back in the air in the near future.

The firm referred to ‘uncertainty’ at this stage of the pandemic, just days after the Scottish Government released details of its new traffic light system on international travel.

Details of Scotland's traffic light system for international travel were revealed earlier this week (Tony Nicoletti Daily Record)

On The Beach CEO Simon Cooper said: “There’s nothing we want more than to be able to send customers on holiday, but with the current number of unknowns we don’t think that now is the right time for customers to book new holidays departing the next few months.”

Customers who have already booked with the firm can still go ahead with the bookings if they wish - but have been left with the option to reschedule without having to pay admin charges.

Interest in international travel from Scotland has spiked in recent days after Nicola Sturgeon gave a limited green light to international travel earlier this week.

A total of 12 countries were added to the green list, which means that holidaymakers do not have to quarantine on their arrival back into Scotland but must take a PCR test shortly after arrival.

Countries such as Portugal, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia were included.

People arriving home from destinations on the amber list must self-isolate at home for 10 days and take two PCR tests during this time.

Non-essential travel to countries on the red list will be banned.

Nicola Sturgeon urged Scots to think cautiously about booking holidays in the near future.

Nicola Sturgeon has urged Scots to think twice about booking a summer holiday abroad (Daily Record)

Speaking at the Scottish Government’s Covid briefing on Tuesday, the First Minister said: “Even though the rules on non-essential travel is starting to change, that doesn’t mean we are saying that non-essential international travel is desirable.

“Everyone should think seriously about whether they need to travel abroad this summer. I know for many people international travel is about family connections and it’s understandable that people may want to travel for that.”

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