Scrap quarantine, say travel bosses
TRAVEL and hotel chiefs have urged the Government to scrap the 14-day quarantine for arriving air, ferry and rail passengers.
An open letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, who last week announced that mandatory self-isolation would start on June 8, said: “The quarantine plans are poorly thought-out, wholly detrimental to industry recovery and are more or less unworkable.”
The 70-strong group fears that the move will deter foreign visitors from coming to the UK, put off Brits from travelling abroad and prompt reciprocal quarantine measures on British visitors.
The United Nations’ World Tourism Organization has predicted that global tourism could slump by up to 80 per cent in 2020 as result of Covid-19.
Chiefs signing the letter include those of high-profile overseas tour operators such as Kuoni owner Der Touristik, Caribtours and Abercrombie & Kent.
It is also supported by the heads of leading luxury London hotels such as Sir Rocco Forte’s properties, Claridges and the Savoy.
The letter concludes: “Quite simply it is time to switch the emphasis from protection to economic recovery before it is too late.