The president of the Canary Islands’ government Angel Victor Torres announced on Thursday (16 December) that Tenerife’s border would be closed from midnight on Friday (18 December) due to rising Covid-19 cases.

There has been confusion about whether this ban on all non-essential travel to Tenerife would include international tourists.

But Jet2 said it had received confirmation from the Canary Islands’ government that Tenerife was not closing its borders to foreign holidaymakers.

“Holidaymakers can still travel to Tenerife to enjoy Christmas and their well-deserved holidays in the sunshine,” said the airline and tour operator in a statement.

“Given this welcome update from the Canaries government, alongside the current FCDO travel advice, we are operating our flights and holidays programmes to Tenerife as normal.

“We put every effort into making sure that our customers enjoy their much-needed holidays. In line with that, we can assure customers that hotels, restaurants, bars and shopping centres remain open in Tenerife.”

Last week, the UK government removed the Canary Islands’ travel corridor due to rising Covid cases, but the Foreign Office (FCDO) has not yet changed its advice on visiting the islands.

Tenerife’s new restrictions will also see the island’s curfew being bought forward by an hour to 10pm, except for 24 and 31 December when hospitality venues will be permitted to stay open until 12.30am.