Thousands more holidays are set to be cancelled after the UK government’s recommendation against all but essential travel to mainland Spain was extended to include the Canary and Balearic islands. The news will come as a further blow to the tourism industry and the Spanish government, which had lobbied hard for the removal of quarantine restrictions for tourists returning from the islands. Late on Monday, the Foreign Office said it would instead toughen up its advice and extend its recommendation against travel to mainland Spain to include the Spanish islands, based on an assessment of the risk. A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We have considered the overall situation for British nationals travelling to and from the Balearic and Canary islands, including the impact of the requirement to self-isolate on return to the UK, and concluded that we should advise British nationals against all non-essential travel to the whole of Spain.” The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, who was holidaying in Spain when the decision was taken to suspend the “air bridge” arrangement, will cut short his vacation and return to deal with the fallout from the decision. Shapps, who will have to quarantine himself on arrival in the UK, said he had decided to return to start the 14-day isolation as soon as possible and had left his family to continue their holiday in Spain. “Thousands of people have seen their holidays disrupted or cancelled thanks to the necessary emergency imposition of quarantine restrictions on Spain,” he said. “I think it is right to get back to work in the UK as soon as possible in order to help handle the situation. The sooner I get back from Spain myself, the sooner I can get through quarantine.” Shapps, who took part in the meeting that decided the new quarantine rules via video link, is understood to have been resistant to making any exception for the Spanish holiday islands because – even if this might have been logistically possible – it would have set a precedent, allowing other countries to potentially lobby for a region-by-region quarantine. Speaking to reporters during a visit to Scotland on Sunday, the Cabinet Office minister, Michael Gove, said the decision to include all of Spain in the quarantine zone came despite the fact he had a holiday booked to Ibiza, one of the Balearics. “We made the decision on the evidence,” Gove said. “I did crack a joke at the end against myself but the principal point was that this is a very serious situation. The incidence of the virus is higher in north-east Spain [but] it is the case that the incidence of the virus is rising across Spain.” Investors sold off shares in airline companies on Monday after the announcement raised fears of further financial difficulties for a sector that has already had a large part of its revenues for the year wiped out. The Ryanair boss, Michael O’Leary, said the quarantine announcement was a “badly managed overreaction” by the UK government. The airline and package holiday company Jet2 on Monday cancelled all flights from the UK to mainland Spain up to 16 August, following similar cancellations on Sunday by Tui, the UK’s largest tour operator. Neither Jet2 nor Tui have so far cancelled trips to the Balearic and Canary islands – but further flight cancellations are now likely because of the updated FCO advice. Travellers from the Spanish archipelagos had previously been told they must quarantine under the UK restrictions, but the islands have a lower incidence of coronavirus infections than the mainland, and the travel industry had pushed for the quarantine restrictions to be limited to the mainland. A spokesman for Airlines UK, a lobby group, called for “a more targeted, regional approach where quarantine could apply only to affected regions of a country”. Airport testing could also mean returning travellers do not have to self-isolate, the spokesman said. Downing Street has maintained there will be no change to its advice regarding the Spanish islands and said those booking any further foreign holidays did so at their own risk. “Unfortunately, no travel is risk-free during this pandemic, and disruption is possible, and so anyone travelling abroad should be aware that our travel advice and exemptions list are under constant review as we monitor the international situation,” a spokesman said. The hardline approach has also baffled and angered the Spanish government, which has said it will bring forward proposals for a more targeted approach to the quarantine. Spain’s tourism minister, Reyes Maroto, said on Monday the government was providing the UK with epidemiological updates about each of Spain’s 17 regions, adding that six of them were currently in a better situation than the UK. UK trade unions said the government must introduce sectoral support to ensure the sudden change in public health advice did not lead to mass job losses. The TSSA transport union said the UK travel trade needed a bespoke support package, warning the industry was at risk of total collapse. “British workers who’ve booked trips to Spain will have to choose between cancelling their holidays or taking unpaid leave in order to comply with quarantine rules,” he said. “Inevitably many Brits will cancel their holidays rather than lose two weeks’ wages. Many more will decide not to book a holiday overseas for fear that they too will face the stress of last-minute cancellations.” The government has also rejected calls to provide any additional financial help for those unexpectedly forced into quarantine for a fortnight if they have an employer who will not pay them in their absence – provoking anger after Boris Johnson’s spokesman suggested people apply for universal credit. “If there are people who need urgent support, they may be entitled to the new-style employment support allowance or universal credit,” he said. While UC payments can take up to five weeks to begin, advances were available, the spokesman said. Asked what choice someone should make if they were told to quarantine but faced the sack if they did not turn up for work, the spokesman said: “Our advice is very clear on the need for people to self-isolate.” The spokesman said there was “a high level of compliance” to existing quarantine rules imposed on other countries. So far, police have issued only three fixed penalty notices to people who have not kept to self-isolation regulations, he said Speaking earlier on Monday, the TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said it was “not holidaymakers’ fault that the guidance has changed”. She said: “The government must also make it clear that people who can’t work from home during quarantine will be eligible for statutory sick pay. And they should increase sick pay from £95 a week to at least the level of the real living wage of £320 a week. In addition, ministers should change the law to stop employers from sacking quarantined workers.”