The industry needs to be ‘pragmatic’ about Covid tests on travellers, say sector leaders, as the government considers introducing a system of testing on arrivals.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly Roadmap to Recovery webcast, UKinbound association chief executive Joss Croft noted: “One test is not going to be sufficient because you could have caught Covid at the time of testing and it would only show up later.
“Two tests would help in reducing the time people need to self-isolate, but it’s not going to be hugely helpful given 10-day self-isolation is almost as bad as 14 days.
“Travelling overseas it wouldn’t matter whether it was 10 days or 14 days, you wouldn’t go.”
Speaking on the same webcast, Business Travel Association chief executive Clive Wratten said: “A two-test regime is an absolute barrier for corporate travel. What we need is reciprocal testing [between countries] to move forward.”
Abta director of industry relations Susan Deer said: “There is a Department for Transport working group looking at testing, but there is not a single solution.
“We have to be pragmatic about how test and trace has been working [in the UK] and [the prospects of] expanding that commercially to allow people to travel.”
Croft agreed, saying: “I’ve heard discussions of technologies that would allow tracking and monitoring of people tested multiple times with a digital-health passport.
“But there have been challenges in tracking and tracing in the UK so that is probably a long way off.”
Wratten argued “Without being selfish, we believe the business travel sector is more risk managed.
“Our teams have been tracking travellers for years. We have corporate travel policies that mandate what travellers need to do. It’s more of a managed environment.
“We’ve suggested [to the government] using corporate travel as a test bed for the whole travel industry on particular routes.
“Testing has to be the option for opening travel routes.”
