Prime Minister Boris Johnson should scrap the “dead” traffic-light system and set a date for reopening overseas holidays otherwise the travel industry is “finished”, operators have said.
i has learned the Government is unlikely to reopen UK tourism to European and US destinations until August, dashing hopes hotspots would be added to the travel green list when it is due to be reviewed on 28 June.
The delay comes after Boris Johnson’s announcement that domestic unlocking will be delayed for four weeks with a new “freedom day” date set for 19 July.
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, told i: “Sadly it’s July the washout. The Government is definitely signalling very clearly that they’re planning to open up overseas travel in August, to major European destinations and the US. I’ve heard it from a number of sources.
“I and many others in the sector believe they now need to set a date. In the same way they set a date for domestic reopening on 19 July, there should be a date of 31 July for reopening overseas travel properly, especially to those who have been fully jabbed which will be 40 million people by then.
“They said yesterday another 10 million will be jabbed by 19 July, so there’s nothing stopping them from setting a date of 31 July.”
Pointing out the US is allowing fully vaccinated citizens to travel without having to self-isolate on return, he added: “The Americans are able to travel anywhere if that country will let them in of course, and all they have to do is take a test on day three when they get back, they don’t have to do any quarantine.
“Same with the Europeans, from 1 July European citizens who have been fully jabbed can travel anywhere and don’t have to quarantine when they get back. So why is Britain the outlier here?”
The travel industry expert declared the Government’s current traffic light system as “pretty dead” after the chaos sparked by removing Portugal from the “green list” three weeks after it had been put on it and thinks it should be scrapped and replaced with the reopening date.
He said: “Consumers have no confidence in it after what they did to Portugal. And ministers clearly don’t know themselves how to describe it, and have differing views on what amber is. So I personally think the Government has ruined what could have been a very good system and now they need to replace it with (a policy of) fully jabbed citizens two weeks after their second dose should be allowed to go to most countries apart from a few red countries.
“A major reopening date is needed. They need to do it to now protect jobs in the sector and boost confidence, because at the moment many people are not booking because they’re worried that the Government will change their minds.
“There’s no excuse now. We know vaccines work against the variant.”
On Monday The Telegraph reported that UK ambassadors have warned foreign tourism bosses in Spain and Turkey that the return of British travellers has been pushed back until the beginning of August due to the delay of the lockdown roadmap.
It comes as holiday booking company TUI cancelled dozens more flights to Spain, Greece and other holiday hotspots until at least July amid the uncertainty.
British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and EasyJet have also cancelled flights until after the new 19 July date because of plummeting demand.
Noel Josephides, chairman of travel agency Sunvil and former chairman of the Association of British Travel Agents, told i the Government could save many businesses from closure by setting a date now.
He said: “Yes there’s not going to be any movement until August. Now Johnson has told everyone it will be another four weeks, he’s not likely to turn round and say ‘OK folks but you can travel abroad’ the hospitality industry would be up in arms.
“If he had any honour about him he would say to us now, the same way he says that four weeks from now he’s going to liberate everything, that from the 1 August we can operate. We will be the last to know because this is how this Government operates, they don’t have the decency to actually tell you.
“The trouble is this, the public no longer trusts anything this Government says and nor do any other countries.
“If they told us now, that from the 1 August you can operate, then at least we’d have August, September and October to get some sort of cash flow and we wouldn’t have people cancelling, because they say ‘well Johnson is going to stop us going in August as well’.
“If it (limits to foreign travel) goes on from July to August and to God knows when, then we’re all finished because we can’t survive two years with no income.”
The Department for Transport told i “we can’t comment on speculation”, when asked if travel to top destinations won’t reopen until August.
In response to the plea for a date to be set, it said in a statement: “Our first priority is protecting the public and saving lives, and the traffic light system we have in place categorises countries and territories based on risk, using the latest data.
“As set out in the Global Travel Taskforce, we continue to engage with international partners to explore how we can open international travel safely.”