The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
My blueprint for getting travel moving again
Politicians are still non-committal on what our holidays will look like this year. We need a better plan, says Nick Trend
all goes well, within a few weeks many of us will dare to start dreaming about the realities of travel once more. By Easter, the majority of those vulnerable to the disease in this country should have been protected and there will – hopefully – be no reason for the Government to prevent us travelling abroad if we so wish.
We will only be able to visit other countries if they decide it is safe to let us in, but some will be keen to see British holidaymakers return as soon as possible, and many of us will want to grab the first opportunity to get away.
Currently, politicians are terrified of making commitments and won’t even look ahead as far as the summer. Last week, Grant Shapps was reported as saying he “hadn’t a clue” whether over50s should book a summer holiday, while Dominic Raab advised against it. We need a better plan than that. So here is my blueprint for restarting travel.
Reform Foreign Office advice
Currently, travelling abroad for anything other than essential work is forbidden. There is no end or review date on the advice, and consumers and the travel industry need more certainty. Feb 15 is the target date for vaccinating the vulnerable. Setting that date for the advice to be reviewed would allow tour operators to plan and give consumers who have holidays booked some transparency, especially over cancellations.
Reinstitute travel corridors
These were designed to be enabling, but were badly administered, with lastminute changes causing huge problems for operators and holidaymakers. But the idea was a good one and, as vaccinations increase, there will be less reason to suddenly change or suspend them.
Give consumers confidence
Travel won’t recover unless consumers know their money is safe and they won’t have any trouble getting refunds. The Atol protection scheme is a useful back
stop protecting against tour operator failure, but there are too many delays over refunds. And the Government has been persistently slow in extending the Refund Credit Note scheme, which protects credits for cancelled holidays under the Atol fund. The protection runs only until the end of this month. It needs to be extended urgently.
… and clarity
There will inevitably be constantly changing protocols on tests, vaccines and quarantine in different destinations. The airline body IATA has introduced a Travel Pass app to help passengers find accurate information on entry requirements. It will be a huge task keeping this up to date, but information of this kind will be essential.
Make testing easier
Because we can’t yet travel, the requirement that all passengers arriving in the UK show a negative Covid test taken in
the previous 72 hours has yet to hit. There will be considerable obstacles to obtaining a test in, for example, a ski resort or on a small island. A huge amount of work will need to be done.
Vaccination passports
The travel industry is already lobbying for these, so that those who have been vaccinated can travel without restrictions. Such a policy may be attractive to older travellers, but needs to be supplemented by a feasible testing regime for younger generations and for those who are unable to have the vaccine because of allergy or other reasons.
Focus on the UK
We have seen how important British holidays are when it’s hard to travel abroad. Let’s get self-catering accommodation open again as a priority, and remember that the Easter holidays will be a critical moment for UK resorts, hotels, sights and holiday parks.