After an exhausting year with two confinements, a huge sequence of teleworking and repeated curfews, they dreamed of their exotic vacations to recharge their batteries. But that was without counting on the fourth wave and the express propagation of the Delta variant.
Unsurprisingly, many of them canceled their stay this summer as a precaution, especially in the Iberian Peninsula. I have to say that the situation has been out of control for several weeks in Catalonia. A curfew has been introduced in most localities in the region, including Barcelona, from July 23 and for at least a week. Several other territories in Spain (Valencia, Cantabria, etc.) will have recourse to similar measures or have already instituted them. Suddenly, Frédéric gave up his trip: “We canceled our planned trip to Barcelona and Andorra. Too bad the hotels do not play the game and do not reimburse us, ”he laments. Lili, she still does not know if she will be able to fly. “I was planning on doing a road trip with my friends in Barcelona, then Malta and finally Lisbon. I’m the only friend of mine who doesn’t want to be vaccinated, so it’s a mess for me. We are waiting for new restrictions or information on the borders to book anything ”.
“The country is on the red list and my whole family has caught the Covid-19”
Among the hardest-hit countries in Europe with more than 128,700 deaths, the UK has recently recorded more than 50,000 new cases daily, a rise attributed to the Delta variant. And even though England lifted its latest health restrictions on Monday, the UK’s other nations – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – have adopted a more cautious schedule. Suddenly, Marie preferred to cancel her trip to Guernsey, as she told us when responding to a call for witnesses: “The conditions are only changing. We canceled so as not to have to pay for strict containment. We have not been fully reimbursed by Condor Ferries, although it is impossible to travel. We were not even offered a credit for the total amount of the crossing. We will not be leaving this year, not even in France, where prices have increased a lot due to the crowds. And then there are too many people in the tourist places which no longer respect the distances ”. The fact that England has thrown off the mask since Monday did not reassure Sophie either: “It’s been two times that we postpone our trip to England to follow in the footsteps of Harry Potter. It’s our daughter’s 18th birthday gift. We have to go back in September and I think it’s off to a bad start. However, I do not think that we will be reimbursed, because the flight will not be canceled. “
And for those who intended to leave for a country which has just been placed in the red zone, a compelling reason is required to go there if one is not vaccinated, and a mandatory quarantine of 10 days is imposed on return. . But a decree published on July 16 lifts these obligations for the vaccinated, even if the government formally advises them against going to these countries very affected by the epidemic. A recommendation that Sana will follow: “I had to go to Tunisia for 2 weeks with my children. However, the country is on the red list and my whole family has caught the Covid-19. So change of plan and destination the south of France, ”she explains.
“(The health pass) especially encouraged us to cancel all our reservations”
For the unvaccinated, it was sometimes also necessary to backtrack, like Patricia: “We had planned a self-tour from July 29 to August 5 with my son in Malta, which we canceled because we are not vaccinated. We will not be fully refunded. The agency must send me its invoice for cancellation fees and I must wait a minimum of one month before the insurer reimburses me, despite the Covid-19 cancellation insurance that I had taken out. It was Malta that changed the entry conditions, because when we registered 5 weeks ago, a negative PCR test of 72 hours maximum was sufficient ”. Malta in fact initially announced that it would close its borders to unvaccinated people, then renounced this measure a few hours before its entry into force, but imposed a quarantine on them.
But it’s not just vacationers who were planning to go abroad who are forced to cancel. Some, who did not want to leave France, nevertheless preferred to play the safety card, such as Lucie: “I had to cancel the road trip planned since the end of the last confinement, due to the increase in the rate of incidence in the south of France. I was able to cancel two hotels, but not the last one, so I was losing a night at 200 euros. Because they believe that the fact of refusing to do an antigen test every two days or that the increase in the incidence rate is not a valid reason, even with the extension of the guarantee ”.
The implementation of the health pass to go to the cinema, the museum or to sports establishments from this Wednesday, and to access cafes, restaurants and trains from the beginning of August, also dissuaded some from packing their bags, to like Alex: “My wife and I had planned to go in mid-August for a wellness treatment in Vichy, accompanied by my father and our young daughter. Both unvaccinated and not planning to be, the implementation of restrictions related to the health pass especially encouraged us to cancel all our reservations. We will stay at home this summer, there is no question of bending the knee in the face of this health dictatorship, ”he said. Ditto for Remy “I canceled my reservation of 600 euros for a week near the Beauval zoo from July 25 until July 31. No question of being vaccinated by obligation! “, He justifies. A vacation that will therefore have a bitter taste for some.