The Travel Visa Company has launched a Covid-19 testing service to help agents and operators support their customers.
The visa specialist has unveiled a dedicated page on its website with an A-Z guide of destinations and the various requirements for travellers, such as PCR tests and timings, passenger locator style forms and additional entry information.
Furthermore, it has negotiated a discount on postal Covid-19 tests, taking the cost down from £120 to £99.
It can help travellers process their tests via the post or in clinics, for a fee of £12.95, offering advice and information about how and when to take the test.
Keni Chan, head of sales at the Crewe-based company, said: “From April to August there was almost zero activity and then we had a 500% increase in business.
“November went downhill again but we have seen a real surge in December.
“We are still down on normal times but the trends are promising.
“It’s much better now than before, I am optimistic.”
The company used the quiet periods during lockdown to boost its online services and develop the Covid-19 offering.
“We are now in a better position for when the market returns,” said Chan.
“The Covid section is now our ‘mothership’ of information for Covid.
“It will hopefully go some way to taking the pressure off agents.”
He said the firm has arranged hundreds of PCR tests in recent months and has not encountered any issues with results being returned too late for travellers’ flights.
Holidays to most destinations are still unavailable for most consumers but the company has been able to help some travellers visit countries such as the US, for family bereavements or business trips, for example.
Chan said the new test to release scheme has been “a bit of a farce” so far, as test providers on the government-approved list are not able to provide the tests and there is confusion about whether other providers can be used.
He also said many older travellers who are retired – who make up a large proportion of The Travel Visa Company’s clientele – are able to quarantine for 10 days, so they won’t necessarily see much value in a test on day five, and the time for results to come back still needs to be accounted for.
The discount code is “thetravelvisacompany” and should be entered in the basket section when ordering from the company’s partners Check My Body Health. The code is exclusively to be used with the “fit to fly” PCR product.