The Business Travel Association (BTA) is urging the Foreign Office (FCO) to adopt a new tier of advice to ‘travel with caution’.
But Abta has suggested such a change is unlikely and should not be a priority.
BTA chief executive Clive Wratten said: “Foreign Office travel advice hasn’t changed for years and the world has changed. The stop-go scenario doesn’t work. So let’s introduce a third level [of advice] to ‘travel with caution’ to allow us to get back to travelling.”
Wratten suggested it would mean “the insurance industry insures under that criteria” and would allow travel management companies (TMCs) and travel agencies to advise travellers.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly Roadmap to Recovery webcast, he said: “It’s a suggestion to allow the industry, corporate or leisure, to work with customers to make them feel safe and know they’re going to be able to get back should quarantine come in.
“So a country would be ‘under caution’, but we would be watching and know there is a given time when the announcements are going to come.”
However, Abta director of industry relations Susan Deer said: “The Foreign Office did a review, into which we and others provided input, where they looked at the level of advice.
“They looked at all the options and the conclusion was the current system works well.
“Obviously, that was pre-Covid. It’s possible the FCO could undertake another review. But our first target in terms of FCO advice has to be to get away from this global advisory against travel and back to individual country advice.”
She argued: “The advice has always been destination-specific, so first up is to get away from a global advisory.
“Then the important thing is to give travellers the information so they can make an informed decision on whether to travel.”
Deer noted: “The FCO doesn’t say it’s safe to travel to a destination even if it’s ‘green’. It says ‘We’re not advising against non-essential travel’.”
She added: “People do travel even when the FCO advises against travel. What’s important is the information to allow them to make an informed decision.”