Europe's largest travel company's boss is "optimistic" that vaccines will save summer holidays.
Tui Group chief executive Friedrich Joussen told the BBC that Tui expects to operate up to 75% of its usual summer schedule this year, while 2.8 million summer 2021 bookings were made last month.
Holiday travel abroad is set to be allowed from May 17, under the Government's roadmap for lifting lockdown, although destinations will be divided into a traffic light system of green, amber and red countries, based on their Covid threat, with quarantine on arrival in the UK requirements for anybody entering the UK from an amber or red destination.
Pointing to the success of vaccination programmes in the UK, US and Europe, Mr Joussen told the broadcaster: “We are still confident that we will have a decent summer.
“All medical advice we are getting as a company says that existing vaccines are working with existing variants.
“Now they might be less efficient sometimes, but still it’s much better than not being vaccinated.”
Mr Joussen also said he thinks a negative test result would be just as effective as a vaccine passport in preventing the spread of the virus, though he admitted the tests would need to be cheaper for the strategy to be successful.
