NEWS
The taskforce’s report, unveiled by transport secretary Grant Shapps, disappointed many in the industry but was credited with providing the ‘building blocks’ for travel’s resumption
Leaders expect ‘soft’ restart in wake of taskforce report
Ian Taylor
Any restart of travel on May 17 is likely to be “soft”, say industry leaders, after the government published its Global Travel Taskforce report and stopped telling people not to book overseas holidays. The report proved
self-isolation with test to release, which seems draconian. Green we can work with if we can get the costs down. Testing is the area we’ll focus on.” But the source said: “We want
disappointing. One industry source slammed “the conservatism of the tiers, especially green” under the new traffic light system. Quarantine will remain for arrivals from amber countries and expensive PCR tests for arrivals from green. Jet2holidays pushed its restart back
STORY TOP
to work with the government and get this over the line. Everybody is jumping up and down, but the government indicated it could make changes. The work is not complete. “They had to produce the
report sooner than they were ready. If not for the situation in
Europe, it would look different. The review points will be vital.” There were calls for the
to June 24 as a result, although Tui and easyJet holidays still plan for May 17. A source involved with the
taskforce said: “We need a lot more to restart at scale. Amber is 10 days’
travelweekly.co.uk
government to publish the data and thresholds for categorising countries. The source said: “They’ve given the criteria. We suspect they won’t publish the thresholds because people will take these as definitive when there are ‘soft’ criteria [such
as] trust in other countries’ data. “It isn’t what everyone wants, but
few countries have put this kind of framework on the table and everyone is feeling their way. The story is far from over. The point has been made that we need more. We have the building blocks, but we need a more robust reopening plan. There will be intense activity over the next weeks.” Another industry taskforce source
said: “PCR tests are impractical because of the cost and will make management at the border tricky. Manual checks will be impossible.” But they noted: “We almost had two PCR tests [for green-list arrivals]. The Department of Health and Public Health England lobbied for a second.” Heathrow chief executive John
Holland-Kaye told Travel Weekly: “May 17 will probably be a soft launch. Then the review at the end of June will be very important.”
Julia Lo Bue-Said, Advantage
Travel Partnership chief executive, said: “It’s a matter of waiting. Travel will resume. [But] anybody booking from May 17 is doing so without any certainty – 60% of everything our members are selling now is for September onward.” Alan Bowen of the Association
of Atol Companies agreed: “I’m assuming something will happen on May 17, but most people think September will be the earliest they see anything much.” In a positive development,
Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon fuelled hopes of a coordinated start across the UK when she announced on Tuesday: “We hope to agree rules for international travel on a four nations’ basis.” However, she said: “It may be we have to endure restrictions on international travel for a bit longer.”
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PICTURE: Crown Copyright/Pippa Fowles/10 Downing Street
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