‘Covid cover’ offered by Tui, Britain’s biggest holiday company

Tui will reimburse testing costs or provide repatriation if medically required, and Hays Travel is offering a similar policy

Costa closer: Malaga will soon be added to the Tui destinations (Simon Calder)

Britain’s biggest holiday company is seeking to reassure prospective customers by offering cover for passengers against coronavirus-related problems.

Tui has announced a “Covid-19 cover scheme” that will be provided with every holiday from the UK for the rest of 2020.

If travellers are asked to self-isolate, it will cover the cost of an extended stay and a new return flight home

The scheme will also cover testing costs and, if medically required, repatriation.

Andrew Flintham, managing director for Tui UK & Ireland, said: “It means that they can book with confidence, knowing that extra costs associated with Covid-19 that wouldn’t be covered by regular travel insurance, will be taken care of.

“We know some people may not feel confident travelling right now, but we’re inviting them to start looking forward to holidays again, and we can’t wait to take them away whenever they choose to join us.”

The announcement came as the first British holidaymakers returned without the need to quarantine.

Arrivals from France, Italy, Croatia, Greece and many other countries are no longer obliged to spend 14 days in self-isolation.

But passengers from Spain to Scotland will need to quarantine, even if they touch down in England.

Tui has also announced that it is expanding operations from 25 July, adding Alicante, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Malaga, Menorca and Reus to its Spanish destinations, as well as the Greek island of Zakynthos (also known as Zante).

On the same date it will resume flights from Bristol airport, though plans to fly from Glasgow have been put on hold until 1 August – when it starts flying from a total of 12 UK airports to 24 destinations.

These include Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman and Izmir in Turkey.

The additional UK airports are Bournemouth, Exeter, Cardiff, Doncaster, East Midlands, Newcastle and Stansted.

Portugal has controversially been left off the list of no-quarantine destinations, which means neither Tui nor its rival, Jet2, will be running holidays there for now.

Separately, Hays Travel – which rescued Thomas Cook’s shops six months ago – is now offering covering Covid-19 and other pandemics in all its travel insurance policies.

It also covers cruise holidays where travellers are confined to their cabins or lose out on port stops and prepaid excursions because of pandemics.

The managing director and joint owner, John Hays, said: “We have ensured there is cover for all permutations we can think of, because we want our customers to go on holiday whether home or abroad and feel secure about the cover they’ve got.”