Allow low-risk holidays after lockdown, travel chiefs urge Raab

TRAVEL bosses have written to the Foreign Secretary urging him to unlock low-risk holiday destinations post-lockdown, in support of The Daily Telegraph campaign to allow long-haul travel.

In an effort to kick-start travel destinations beyond Europe nearly 70 travel bosses have demanded that Dominic Raab lifts the blanket advisory against “non-essential travel”.

Since March, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has warned against all “non-essential” overseas travel but it exempts destinations that “do not pose an unacceptably high risk for British travellers”.

In the summer, much of Europe fell into this category. However, as Covid cases rose across the Continent that “green list” has shrunk and most longhaul destinations – including almost every nation in Africa and Latin America – remain closed despite many having lower case rates than the UK.

The letter to Mr Raab points out that the FCDO advisory means those who wish to travel to non-exempt countries must do so with “inadequate or no insurance, something the Government’s own Travel Aware campaign was set up to avoid”.

In a show of support for The Telegraph’s Unlock Long Haul campaign, Mr Raab is told: “We all either work for or represent specialist and long-haul tour operators, and have all had to make valued members of staff redundant.”

Many winter-sun destinations are now fully open to tourists, including Britons. Most have falling or stable Covid case rates, have far fewer deaths per capita than the UK, and many have state-of-the-art medical facilities.

Some countries check the temperature of travellers, others require a PCR test before departure, and some insist on periods of quarantine on arrival. Several countries, including Brazil, have no requirements for air arrivals.

The Telegraph’s Unlock Long Haul campaign is calling for the blanket advisory to be scrapped, and for travel corridors to be granted for more countries beyond Europe.

Meanwhile, airlines have told Rishi Sunak that Britons stranded abroad because of the second lockdown must be repatriated at the taxpayers’ expense.

Airlines flew hundreds of empty services – costing them millions of pounds – to rescue holidaymakers from resorts around the world after the first lockdown was introduced in March. The Treasury only funded a small number of charter flights to collect Britons who were trapped in countries whose borders had been closed.

It came as Heathrow yesterday put on extra staff to help manage long queues as travellers flocked to the airport to escape lockdown on the final day on which holidays were allowed.