Green travel destinations to cost holidaymakers 35% more this summer

Research by Butter, the UK’s only Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) travel agency, has revealed that holidaymakers face a higher cost when looking to jet away this summer should they opt for a destination designated as green in the Government’s traffic light tier system.

Tonight the Government announced which countries are listed as green, amber and red, with green locations requiring no quarantine on return home to the UK, with a test required on or before two days upon return.

This will no doubt make green sanctioned countries more popular as amber destinations still require 10 up to days self isolation at home, while red destinations still require 10 days of isolation in a Government approved hotel at a considerable cost of £1,750.

The green listed destinations announced tonight (Friday 7th May) includes Gibraltar, Israel, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore amongst a number of others. The bad news? Butter’s research shows that it will cost you considerably more to book a holiday in the first place.

Butter analysed the average cost of a seven day holiday in each destination for both hotels and flights before looking at the average cost based on their current designated traffic light colour.

The research found that with an average of £981 for a seven day trip, green tier destinations are by far the most expensive. In fact, they came in 35% more expensive than the average cost of a seven day holiday in amber tier destinations (£727).

At £833 on average, red tier destinations were home to a higher holiday cost than amber, however, green tier destinations were still 18% more expensive than red tier locations.

The good news is that opting for a Buy Now Pay Later travel agent like Butter allows you to spread the cost of your holiday interest free, meaning that even the cost of a green tier destination is palatable for UK holidaymakers this summer.

Timothy Davis, Co-Founder and CEO of Butter, commented:

“Holidaymakers will now be climbing over each other to book a trip away to a green tier destination this summer, having not been able to take a proper holiday in quite some time.

The only downside to this greater level of consumer confidence is that green tier locations are likely to cost them more than locations currently listed as amber or red.

Of course many will have been saving in anticipation, having been starved of some summer sun since the pandemic began, but there is another way to secure their holiday this year before it’s too late and without breaking the bank.

Buy Now Pay Later travel agents such as Butter allow you to spread the cost of your holiday, interest free, and over a number of months to make payments more manageable, in many cases with only a small portion due up front and the full balance not due until after you’ve travelled. Making it even more affordable when looking to book a holiday at short notice this summer.

With any luck, we’ll also see some more amber destinations hit the green list before the summer comes and this will give consumers even more choice when looking to travel.”

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Table shows the average cost of a 7 day holiday to each destination listed in each colour tier based on a three star hotel and economy flights between 9th and 16th August 2021. Data sourced from Expedia.