For once, it wasn’t the UK government that had the travel industry sighing in frustration.

Four days after the extension of the green list, along came another set of hurdles for visitors to several newly opened - and key destinations - from the governments of Spain and Malta.

In fairness, the new curbs on visitors who are not fully vaccinated appear justified, with concern in Majorca linked to “student vacations”, where more than 2,000 were put in quarantine following 800 confirmed cases in nine of the island’s regions.

This prompted Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez to step in, decreeing all UK adult visitors must be double jabbed or show a negative PCR test from 2 July. Children under 12 are exempt from PCR testing or vaccination when travelling with an adult.

Malta confusion

Malta also imposed new restrictions on 30 June, from when only fully vaccinated British travellers were allowed to enter, with all arrivals needing to be fully vaccinated at least 14 days before arrival.

Frustratingly, Malta caused even more confusion after saying it would only accept paper proof of vaccination, although thankfully it has now said it will accept the NHS app or digital proof of Covid jabs.

Importantly for the family market, all those aged 12 and over arriving in Malta will need proof of full vaccination, even though the UK has yet to decide whether to vaccinate under-18s or not, while children aged 5-11 will need a negative PCR test before arrival.

Portugal and the Azores are on the amber list, but in the event of a return to green, British travellers must prove they have had two jabs at least 15 days prior to arrival or self-isolate for 14 days. Arrivals will also need a negative PCR test 72 hours before or an antigen test taken within 48 hours of travel.

There was some good news; under-18s will not have to quarantine in Portugal if accompanying adults are fully vaccinated. However, those aged 12-18 will need to show a negative PCR test.

In addition, Madeira was added to the green ‘watch list’ on 30 June. Britons can travel unvaccinated and receive a free PCR test on arrival with results in six to 12 hours.

It’s confusing enough for the trade and even more so for consumers who are likely to view their prospects of a holiday according to their vaccine status, age, income and whether they are travelling with children.

Double jabbed adults able to afford the required tests for each country will be making travel plans, but will families with unvaccinated children relish the extra cost or the prospect of a child becoming infected abroad and having to isolate there?

Then there is the youth travel sector; as of 23 June, 40% of the UK population had not had both jabs. The government plans to have doubled vaccinated all those over 40 by 19 July, meaning a large proportion of younger tourists to destinations like Ibiza will have to pay for expensive PCR tests.

Impact on bookings

Kelly Cookes, Advantage Travel Partnership leisure director, said bookings had predictably increased following news of the updated green list, but added: “The increase in regulations in a number of the countries since Thursday (24 June) has increased customer concern and makes it difficult for agents to sell in volume.

“There was a definite shift towards travel in July with the Balearics being the top selling destination,” she said, but added: “The green watch list is confusing and there now seems to be an issue with 12 to 17-year-olds travelling to some countries which adds another layer of complexity for the family market.”

She said sales to amber destinations “continue to be steady” with Canary Islands and some Greek islands continuing to sell well, “largely due to the FCDO advice not being against travel to these areas”.

Cooke said clients were also asking about the likelihood of not having to quarantine on return from amber destinations later this summer.

Not Just Travel co-founder Steve Witt believes pent-up demand will override any concerns about cost or implications for younger travellers.

“Will it slow down holiday makers? No. Will it make people happy to travel? Yes. I’m sure we’d all rather not have the extra expense, albeit relatively small, but for now it’s important, so we will just have to factor it into our plans."

He added: "Spain is doing the right thing in asking for proof of a negative test. It’s important that we are all confident travelling right now. We need that to really help kickstart travel.

“The sooner the industry can demonstrate all of the great safety measures which are in place, and how safe it is to travel, the sooner everyone will be happy to hop on a plane.”

Youth specialist Party Hard Travel has already seen clients moving their bookings over to the Balearic islands with customers willing to take expensive PCR tests to be able to travel.

“We’ve seen a lot of the Greece bookings due to depart in the first two weeks in July move over to Magaluf or Ibiza which just goes to show that young people are just desperate to get away,” said chief executive Nathan Cable.

“We have had a lot of people come in and question the new rule to get a PCR test or be double vaccinated to get in to Ibiza and Magaluf and so far, all of our customers are willing to get the PCR test before they go.”

Some operators catering for more mature clients have seen a spike in interest.

Chris Townson, managing director UK & Ireland of Insight Vacations and Uniworld, said talk of allowing double-vaccinated UK travellers to return from amber countries without quarantine later this summer “helped to build on the initial 25% increase in enquiries we received following speculation earlier in the week, with more calls coming in and lively web traffic continuing over the weekend”.

Townson added: “What we need now is clarity on timelines so that those leads and enquiries convert more readily into bookings for late summer. Our guests are predominantly 50-plus, so received their second jab more than a month ago and are desperate to get away this summer after more than a year grounded.”

It looks like this generation could be among the ones to target until more restrictions are lifted, but it is only a fraction of the normal summer market, as Advantage’s Kelly Cookes points out: “It is not enough to sustain an entire industry.”