Travel with Katie Butler: Europe endures summer of wildfires

Katie Butler writes: Tenerife authorities have insisted it is business as usual for the major tourist areas, although firefighters and military crews are still battling the fires which broke out on the north east of the island mid-August.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from parts of Tenerife or ordered to stay indoors near the island’s capital – Santa Cruz.

However, tourist areas in the south of the island, including the main resorts of Playa de las Americas, Costa Adeje and Los Cristianos, remain unaffected.

We caught up with our travel advisor Kath who is currently in Playa de las Americas and she confirmed that their holiday has not been impacted at all by the terrible wildfires in the north. However, the fires could be seen when she landed late in the evening last week.

I am due to travel to to Tenerife very soon, can I change or cancel my holiday?

As it stands, none of the major European airlines flying to Tenerife have cancelled flights to the island, including Jet2, easyJet, Tui and Ryanair.

There are two airports in Tenerife, one in the north and the main one in the south – Reina Sofia.

As none of the tour operators or airlines have cancelled flights – then normal terms and conditions apply, and it is highly unlikely that you will be able to cancel with a refund as holidays are mainly operating without impact.

Remember Monarch airlines and Monarch holidays?

Rumours have it that the brand could be set to return six years after the airline and operator collapsed.

Last week it came to light that Instagram and Twitter accounts were set up in the Monarch name and branding, following the names being registered at Companies House in January of this year.

A Daniel Ellingham was named as a director of both businesses and aviation website Airways quoted him as saying he was leading the iconic brand into a new era.

Airways said the company intended to approach the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) in the coming weeks.

It is absolutely a 'watch this space' situation with potential lenders and investors almost certainly needing to have substantially large wallets.

I will definitely be keeping my eyes peeled on this one.

New holiday bookings remained consistent last week with the month of September being the most popular month to book for.

We are still enjoying a really strong late booking market with no significant signs of slowing.

We also saw a jump in summer 2024 bookings.

Many of the new bookings are from those who have recently returned from their holidays. A cure for the ‘holiday blues’ – book another holiday!

Majorca and Tenerife were again the top selling destinations for this summer and Turkey and Majorca for summer 2024.

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