Broads’ holiday boating companies are almost fully-booked throughout July as staycations are poised to surge following lockdown easing measures.
On June 23, Boris Johnson announced that people could holiday within England from July 4, while Broadland MP Jerome Mayhew has called for his constituents to “support local businesses” and take a “much-needed holiday” in the Norfolk Broads.
For Richardson’s Boating Holidays, the phones have been ringing “like crazy” over the past few days, with most holiday slots for July already full up.
A spokesperson said: “People are absolutely desperate to get out, and this week in particular the phone line has been going crazy.“Most of our longer-stay slots for July are already gone. People have been booking boats out from Monday to Friday or even a full week.
“We’ve had a lot of transferrals over to next year with existing holidays due to the lockdown, but quite a few people who transferred are now getting in touch to book in a holiday this year as well.”
James Brooks from Herbert Woods said that they’d been taking up to 50 bookings a day, with July “very much fully booked”.
He said: “Since Boris made the announcement on Tuesday our phones have not stopped. It finally seems like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel after months of quiet on the Norfolk Broads.”
Booking lines have been equally busy at Barnes Brinkcraft, with a spokesperson confirming that the company had seen a surge in interest for short breaks in July.
Alison, who works at Oliver’s Sailing Holidays at Martham, said that its three staycation yachts were already being booked out over the summer at the same rate they were last year.
She said: “It’s lovely that people can come back to the Broads and we’re so excited about the prospect of reopening.“There’s a lot of extra work to be done though, in terms of disinfecting the boats between each hire.
“We have a fogging machine which is really very handy - it coats everything in the vicinity with cleaning product - and new rules about customers using the toilets on site when they are due to board or disembark the boat.
“The boats are quite small spaces and you want to keep everyone safe as possible to avoid risk - but it’s worth it to get things up and running again.”
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