Simon Calder says Brits are abandoning Spain for 1 beautiful country – 25C in May | World | News
Brits are reportedly ditching Spain over its implementation of the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES), instead opting for Greece, which scrapped the controversial procedure. According to the Advantage Travel Partnership, which represents over 700 travel agencies, there are now more new summer bookings for Greece than Spain from UK holidaymakers.
The partnership told The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder that the share of bookings for mainland Spain dropped from 8.7% to 7% in the last two weeks of April. On the flip side, the share of bookings for Greece increased from 7.7% in mid-April to 9.8% at the end of the month.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of Advantage, told the outlet: “We have seen a clear and consistent uplift in demand for the destination across our travel agent membership.
“This shift suggests that travellers are increasingly factoring in the potential for disruption at EU borders when making their holiday choices and are actively opting for destinations where the arrival experience is likely to be smoother and more predictable.
“While we welcome pragmatic decisions such as Greece’s to ease pressure during the peak summer period, a broader, coordinated pause across the EU remains essential.
“This would give authorities the necessary time to address operational challenges, ensure consistency across destinations, and ultimately protect the traveller experience.”
Travel experts believe Spain, France and Croatia could soon abandon the system, as British tourists may start prioritising countries with shorter airport queues.
Seamus McCauley of the travel company Holiday Extras warned that jobs would be at risk if countries did not act.
He told Daily Mail: “Countries are not going to sit back and let Greece take their trade because they won’t face EES delays at airports. To do so would be politically toxic as jobs are on the line.”
He continued: “The rollout has been an utter fiasco. British tourists are worth €3.5billion a year to the Greek economy and it has rightly decided it will not jeopardise that because EES is not working properly.”
