Advantage Travel Partnership is calling for testing at airports to boost consumer confidence, which is being rocked by regular changes to quarantine rules.
The plea came after transport secretary Grant Shapps announced on Thursday that Switzerland, Jamaica and the Czech Republic were being removed from the government’s quarantine safe list.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, Advantage chief executive, said: “With Switzerland, Jamaica and the Czech Republic now being removed from the UK government’s ‘safe list’ of travel corridors, the continual stop/start of destinations is having disastrous consequences on consumer confidence, and for a destination like Switzerland, a real impact on business travel.
“Rather than blanket quarantine measures, which is damaging the travel industry, now is the perfect opportunity for the government to introduce testing at airports to instil some confidence back into travellers, as time spent in quarantine may be reduced, and it will assist in the prevention of transmission of Covid-19.
“For leisure travellers, it would help ease the worry of the re-introduction of unexpected quarantine announcements like we’ve seen in various other European destinations and make people less concerned about booking future trips.
“For business travellers, it would definitely help to kick-start the sector which needs to begin operating again.”
An ABTA spokesperson also highlighted how ongoing changes to quarantine rules is adding to consumer confusion and problems for the beleaguered travel trade.
“As long as quarantine remains the principal strategy in the government’s containment of Covid-19, the travel industry will continue to suffer,” said the spokesperson.
“Given the rapid change in infection rates in different areas, it is vital the government moves as quickly as possible to assess risk on a regionalised, not whole-country basis.
“Only by doing this will we be able to minimise the impact on consumer confidence to book and to travel, and minimise the impact on an industry that has already seen 90,000 livelihoods affected.”
The Guardian highlighted how holidaymakers to Greece are still able to travel without quarantining on their return but there is concern about imported cases from tourist hotspots in the country, including the island of Mykonos.
Gibraltar, Ireland, Denmark, Iceland and Turkey are understood to be among other areas being closely monitored by officials, added the Guardian.
Meanwhile, The Telegraph said many of its readers have told the newspaper that they have not experienced any checks or follow-up by government officials after returning from a destination requiring quarantine.
“Stories abound of lack of enforcement, no checking, and ‘clueless’ Border Control officials,” said The Telegraph.
Furthermore, the newspaper reported that police have fined just three people for breaching travel quarantine rules in the last month.
Statistics, published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), show that three fixed penalty notices were issued to individuals who failed to self-isolate after arriving in England from overseas.
The three fines, amounting to £100 each, were issued by Lincolnshire, Merseyside and Sussex police forces.