Travel with Katie Butler: New travel rules for Spain

This week I am back at Total Travel HQ. Why do holidays seem a distant memory even when you have only been back a few days?
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Katie Butler writes: I am delighted, however, to have come back to some great sales figures!

It seems the heatwave here definitely got many of you in the mood to book a holiday and Leanne, my assistant manager, certainly gave me something to smile about on my first day back in the shop.

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We flew back home last Wednesday and found Larnaca Airport to be very organised.

BENIDORM: There are new rules for entry into SpainBENIDORM: There are new rules for entry into Spain
BENIDORM: There are new rules for entry into Spain

Check-in was swift and we were through security in less than 20 minutes.

Our flight would have departed on time. However, due to storms across Europe following the extreme hot weather across the continent, we were unable to

fly at our scheduled departure time, and had to wait for the storms to pass.

A couple of hours on the tarmac and then we were off.

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Rather the delay than fly through thunderstorms in my opinion.

We have been inundated with calls about the new restrictions for travel to Spain.

Here is what we know: The FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) has updated its advice to warn that additional documents “may” be required to enter Spain following Brexit.

Holidaymakers “may” need to show a return or onward ticket, proof of accommodation or hotel booking and also that they have enough money for their stay.

There is no real clarity who this will apply to.

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However, we are certain that should this come into force on package holiday customers, that the tour operators and airlines will make us aware and be more specific on the actual requirements.

If you are on a package holiday you will already have proof of where you are staying and of course a return flight ticket.

The grey area is – proving funds.

Which leads us to believe these rule may well be more focused on those travelling on a flight only and visiting family and friends.

Last weekend Jet2holidays/Jet2.com operated its busiest weekend ever and almost 150,000 passengers travelled to and from the Mediterranean and across Europe.

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Despite recent disruption affecting the travel sector, the company have not cancelled a single flight due to staff shortages with millions of passengers having travelled already this summer.

A fleet of 106 aircraft was in operation over last weekend, flying to over 50 destinations from across 10 UK bases including Leeds Bradford and Manchester.In total, the Yorkshire based company operated more than 800 flights last weekend with over 425 flights on July 23 alone.

The above certainly shadows what we are seeing in store right now, as demand for a summer holiday remains high.

In fact, almost every flight that we are checking our customers in for are fully booked.

August is our top selling month of departure and accounted for 17 per cent of our bookings last week.

Top selling destinations being Turkey, the Canaries and the Balearics.

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