Scotland’s first minister is the latest prominent politician to advise against booking holidays.
Nicola Sturgeon has advised against booking Easter breaks and signalled to Scottish people that overseas holidays are highly unlikely this summer.
Speaking at Holyrood, she said “our situation is very fragile” and emphasised that “caution will be necessary.”
She added that the Scottish Government is “very likely” to advise against booking even domestic holidays at Easter, when it sets out a pathway out of lockdown next week, according to the Telegraph.
Overseas holidays in the summer are also doubtful, said Sturgeon, although she told Scottish parliament that staycations might be possible, depending on the spread of the virus.
Her comments are a further blow to the travel industry relying on sales for future travel to keep afloat. A snap YouGov poll last week showed the impact of similar comments from UK government ministers such as Grant Shapps and Matt Hancock who warned against booking travel.
An ongoing Foreign Office campaign warns that ‘going on holiday is currently illegal’ – but industry groups such as Abta have pointed out that booking future travel is not illegal.
The Scottish Government has said it is currently planning ‘a revised strategic framework’ for lifting lockdown to be published “this time next week” – coinciding with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s roadmap.
Scotland has taken a stricter approach to border measures than England, requiring all international arrivals to enter government-managed quarantine, rather than just those from ‘high-risk’ countries.