Prime minister Boris Johnson has said he sympathises with “everybody in the tourism industry” as he addressed a question from a holiday home owner in Cornwall.
The prime minister, speaking in his first appearance on a coronavirus daily briefing since he was struck down by the virus, was asked how domestic tourism will be managed in the coming weeks.
He said the government was due to release a ‘road-map’ of how it was going to “unlock” the UK economy, including tourism and warned that restrictions shouldn’t be lifted too soon. He did not mention outbound travel.
Answering the question, he said: “I sympathise very much with everybody in the tourism industry who has taken such a hit.”
Johnson reiterated the governments business support measures, such as the furlough scheme and loans as he promised to “make sure the UK bounces back as strongly and as fast as we can”.
“But we’ve got to be sensible,” he added. “I think the public has been very sensible so far in obeying the advice. It’s vital that does not fray, and we don’t see people starting to disregard what we are saying.”
Referring to his ‘road-map’, Johnson added: “It will be very much driven by where we are in the epidemic, what the data is saying. So Michelle [who asked the question] the short answer is, you’re dead right – we’ve got to get your business going again, we’ve got to get tourism going again, but we can’t allow such a big influx of tourists as to create a second spike or a second wave of the disease.”