Reservations will open at 6pm on Wednesday for an all-in eight-day package holiday to the Greek island of Rhodes, in the latest experiment to find out how events can be organised safely during the pandemic.

The trip, which starts on April 12, is an initiative from the travel industry and has been given government backing. Participants will be selected for the trip on the basis of ‘Dutch government criteria’.

The holiday is for 187 tourists, who will have the Hotel Mitsis Grand Beach to themselves – apart from the staff – and must show a negative test result when they travel. They will not be allowed to leave the location and will have to go into quarantine on their return to the Netherlands.

Holidaymakers will pick up the €399 bill for their stay, flights and coronavirus tests. The trip is being organised by Sunweb and Transavia.

‘The Dutch can’t wait to go on holiday abroad again and the industry wants to get going again as well,’ Frank van Oostdam of holiday sector association ANVR told RTL Nieuws. ‘But it has to be done safely and in a coronavirus-proof way. I have total confidence that this initiative will show you can enjoy a carefree holiday with a travel company.’

Work is also underway on organising a second holiday in which travellers would have more freedom while away, RTL Nieuws said.

On Tuesday, the government recommended against all but essential foreign travel up to May 15.