COMMENT

IT’S time to quash the quarantine. The Government has recently put another nail in the coffin of the travel industry, with plans for anyone entering the UK after June 8 to quarantine themselves for 14 days.

These measures are far too late and, in fact, far from being the right solution at this time.

Harsh as quarantine is, it’s a highly effective health measure at the start of a pandemic... you have to move fast.

Yet, with Covid-19 under greater control, the UK is only choosing to apply these measures now – just when our economy needs a giant pick-me-up.

Enabling summer holidays overseas would be the perfect tonic for people struggling after months of lockdown, not to mention opening up our great nation for business.

The Government has just introduced Track and Trace which should be doing the job of reducing case numbers. It would be relatively easy for airports, with large amounts of terminal space, to invest in such testing facilities, especially as results can now be delivered within 20-30 minutes.

The apparent resources being used to carry out spot-checks on those in quarantine would be better diverted into testing as people enter the UK, thereby stamping out Covid-19 before any carrier can spread it further en route from the airport to their quarantine address.

Eleven per cent of the UK’s total workforce is employed in the travel and tourism economy.

The pandemic has already put four million jobs at risk including in the hospitality sector.

Let me make it clear, this is not about profit – all travel companies will make losses this year – it’s about saving jobs.