Travel firm boss: Quarantine killing our survival fight

‘Tourism sector on its knees’

ONE of Scotland’s leading travel firms has warned the industry is ‘fighting for survival’ as bookings have collapsed since quarantine rules were brought in.

Barrhead Travel revealed it has been forced to scrap plans for the biggest expansion in its history and also had to cut 200 jobs, saying a ‘destructive’ and ‘disjointed’ approach by ministers has added to its woes.

The warning came as Nicola Sturgeon yesterday gave hope that she may give the goahead for testing to be introduced at airports to cut the amount of time passengers have to go into quarantine.

In a letter sent to Scots Tory transport spokesman Graham Simpson, Barrhead Travel president Jacqueline Dobson said the firm had been planning its biggest-ever expansion last year, with 100 stores to open across the UK, creating 1,000 jobs.

However, she said the plans are now ‘dead’ and that the firm has gone through ‘the painful process of laying off 200 of our colleagues in Scotland alone’. She said: ‘We are not alone. The whole Scottish travel industry sector is fighting for survival.

‘A survey by the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association reports that 70 per cent of travel agents experienced a drop in business of over 75 per cent. This was compounded when Spain was removed from the safe list, with 100 per cent of agents reporting no bookings or a significant drop.’

Mrs Dobson believes more firms will be lost without ‘urgent intervention’.

She said: ‘We had seen a glint of hope when lockdown started to ease, but the reinstatement of quarantine for travellers returning from certain countries has seen bookings and revenue collapse.

‘While most companies are starting to rebuild, we are now in a more perilous position than at the height of lockdown.’

She added: ‘Just as business was starting to pick up, we were hit by the uncertainty of quarantine, which effectively killed off any hopes of a summer re-bounce.

‘The out-of-sync quarantine regime imposed by the Scottish Government is damaging confidence of customers and has destroyed our chances of recovery.

‘Our business is at the mercy of these Government-imposed travel restrictions, yet we have not been offered any further support to compensate for this. Their disjointed approach to quarantine is destructive and causing permanent damage to our business. It will ultimately result in additional job losses.’

Mr Simpson, who raised the concerns of the travel industry at First Minister’s Questions yesterday, said: ‘Scotland’s entire airline and tourism sector is on its knees. Thousands upon thousands of jobs are at risk unless urgent action is taken by the SNP Government.

‘All of the businesses I’ve spoken to over the past week, from Barrhead Travel to airports across Scotland, are absolutely desperate for more support from the SNP.

‘The Government needs to step up, and soon. The situation is now critical.

‘At the very least, we need to see a testing regime up and running now, not months down the line. The SNP Government cannot stand by as so many jobs and businesses are under threat.’

Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scots Tories at Holyrood, yesterday highlighted official figures showing only 631 people were contacted by Public Health Scotland out of 13,607 who were required to quarantine after flying to Scotland from countries which are not on the ‘safe list’.

Miss Sturgeon said the Government was discussing alternatives to quarantine with airport bosses, adding: ‘I would hope that... we will have alternatives to quarantine that allow us to make more use of testing.’