Travel industry leaders want greater transparency about UK government decisions on quarantine restrictions.
They warn partial knowledge of the decision-making process is feeding media speculation and damaging people’s confidence to travel or book a holiday.
Abta director of industry relations Susan Deer described the current speculation “focused on case numbers” in the UK as “not helpful”.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly Roadmap to Recovery webcast, Deer said: “There are a range of factors being considered [by the government]. We know some of them, but we don’t know all of them.
“The speculation focused on case numbers is unhelpful and does damage consumer confidence.
“Consumers see this constant speculation about what countries are going to come off the [quarantine exemption] list without the people who are speculating actually knowing the criteria that go along with that.
“That is why transparency on all the criteria would be helpful. At the moment, everybody is focused on one factor and we know for certain that is not the only factor being considered.”
Joss Croft, chief executive of the UKinbound association, agreed.
Speaking on the same webcast, Croft said: “The focus on certain elements rather than the whole is dragging down consumer confidence.
“Ultimately, you would want all the medical advice and the dataset behind it published so people can take informed decisions.”
Croft argued: “It’s the perception of safety that matters as much as the reality. We have our own issues with regional and local lockdowns [in the UK].”
He said local lockdowns in Manchester and Aberdeen “will be putting people off traveling to the whole of the UK. Perceptions become terribly important when you’re looking at international travel.”
Clive Wratten, chief executive of the Business Travel Association, added: “The advance notice of closing a market or introducing quarantine needs to be more transparent.
“When there is 36 hours’ notice that just breeds concern. People think: ‘It’s really quick, it must be dangerous. I need to get out.’”
Deer said: “This is something Abta has been asking for from the beginning – having criteria for the decision-making published so that businesses can plan ahead.”
