Britons travelling to popular destinations such as Spain, Portugal and Italy could face border queues of up to six hours, experts have warned, as research suggests tourist hotspots could lose billions of pounds due to trip disruptions.
Issues stemming from the implementation of the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) are continuing to cause headaches for holidaymakers and tourism hubs alike, with one airline trade body warning of “unacceptable” waiting times that have already caused passengers to miss flights.
According to The Times, Rafael Schvartzman, vice-president for Europe at the International Air Transport Association, told its annual meeting at the weekend: “What we are seeing is a very hard risk of really challenging times or waiting times, talking about expectations of three, four, five, six hours, which is unacceptable.”
Shorts
Andrew Harrison-Chinn, chief marketing officer of travel benefits platform Dragonpass, said that in some locations, passengers were seeing regular delays of two to three hours, rising to six hours at peak times such as Monday mornings or midday Saturday.
