BUSINESS NEWS
‘Health status should be duty of traveller’s country’
Destinations should leave the health status of travellers to origin countries to avoid the need for quarantine, according to Portugal’s secretary of state for tourism, Rita Marques. Portugal reopened its beaches on
June 6 and is expected to be among the first countries to welcome UK holidaymakers when quarantine restrictions are relaxed. Marques said: “We don’t have
quarantine. The origin country should control the health status of travellers. If we all adopt this rule, we would not need quarantine. We have countries that are very dear to us, like the UK, and not all the conditions
Rita Marques
are in place to travel right now.” Matthew Baldwin, the EC’s deputy
director-general for mobility and transport, declined to comment on the UK quarantine, but said: “The vital thing is that any restrictions are based on public health considerations.” He added: “We are all feeling our
way. It is not risk-free to go to the supermarket at the moment. We want to get flying to the same level of risk as going to the supermarket.”
A co-ordinated reopening of EU’s travel borders ‘is not possible’
Time is running out on hopes for a co-ordinated restart to travel across Europe, with a harmonised reopening of borders “not possible”, according to a senior EC official. Matthew Baldwin, deputy
director-general for mobility and transport, said: “It’s important we do as much as we possibly can together, [but] we recognise not everyone is going to be able to do everything at the same time. It’s just not possible.” Eduardo Santander, executive
director of the European Travel Commission, told Baldwin: “We need a harmonised approach.” Speaking in an online debate,
Santander said: “We are confronted
not just with a health crisis but a crisis of confusion. People don’t know where they can go. You want to feel safe. If this is not granted, you won’t go on holiday.” Portugal’s secretary of state for
tourism, Rita Marques, agreed, saying: “We are running out of time. A co-ordinated approach is not happening and member states are negotiating among themselves.” But Baldwin said: “A lot of this is
in the competence of [EU] member states. It does not necessarily need to be harmonised. We want internal borders lifted as soon as possible.” No date has been set for lifting restrictions at EU external borders.
MPs brand quarantine ‘a fudge’ Ian Taylor
MPs described the UK quarantine measures as “a fudge to cover government failure” and “the wrong policy at the worst possible time” as home secretary Priti Patel laid the regulations before Parliament last week. Patel defended the 14-day self-
isolation of most arrivals from June 8, insisting “now is the right time”. She told Parliament: “These are
public health measures designed to protect people from imported cases. “The transmission rate in the UK
continues to decline and the scientific advice is imported infections now pose a more significant threat to our recovery.” She insisted: “We have developed
the policy carefully and the measures will be kept under review. The first review will take place in the week commencing June 28.”
travelweekly.co.uk Quarantine is the
wrong policy at the worst possible time for the aviation industry
Patel said the government would
“take a number of factors into account” in the reviews, including the rate of infection and transmission internationally and “the credibility of reporting measures international partners have in place”, as well as levels of imported cases in countries where there are more-relaxed border measures and the degree to which antibody and other tests prove effective. But she said: “We will only review
measures when the evidence shows it is safe to do so.” Patel added: “We will take into
account the impact on the economy and the travel industry. We’re asking
the industry to work with us.” Nick Thomas-Symonds MP told
the home secretary: “There has to be public reassurance these measures are not just a three-week fudge to cover the government’s failure.” Other MPs questioned why
the UK is “out of step with most other countries” and called for the measures to be abandoned and air bridges established. Transport secretary Grant
Shapps confirmed the government is examining “air bridges or international travel corridors which would remove self-isolation measures . . . [and] working with the transport industry to see how we can introduce agreements with other countries”. But MP Huw Merriman, chair
of the transport select committee, argued: “Quarantine is the wrong policy at the worst possible time for
the aviation industry.” i Get Social, page 21
11 JUNE 2020
Home secretary Priti Patel
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PICTURE: Shutterstock
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