The chief executives of The Business Travel Association (BTA) and the Advantage Travel Partnership have called on the UK government to put in a place a roadmap to restart travel this summer, even if vaccination has not been rolled out to the entire population, and to introduce recognised vaccination certificates to facilitate it.
The BTA’s Clive Written and Advantage’s Julia Lo Bue-Said have joined with the bosses of 17 other travel organisations to write an open letter to the prime minister. The letter calls on the Government to act to help lessen the impact on the sector of a crisis which, according to the signatories, has cost 160,000 jobs and seen many businesses close their doors for good.
In the letter, they write: “With the vaccine rollout now progressing well, and as you look to how the lockdown can be eased, we ask you to provide a roadmap to get people travelling again this summer. We know that it is too early to put a specific date on the return to international travel, and that there will be a need for flexibility in the approach, but what we need are some principles for restarting travel - recognising that the return to normal life will never be entirely risk-free. We also encourage coordination across the UK, where possible.”
The letter calls on the Government to:
• Recognise that we cannot wait for the full rollout of the vaccination programme before people start to travel again, and that not everyone can or will want to be vaccinated, so a practical and cost-effective testing regime will be critical.
• Facilitate travel through a recognised vaccine certificate to enable restrictions to be relaxed for some travellers.
• Return Foreign Office travel advice on Covid-19 to a regional basis, as opposed to a whole country level, and ensure the advice focuses on the risk to people in destinations.
The organisations write: "The Government needs to provide tailored financial support to help all travel businesses through to recovery, including grants that take account of the impact of international travel restrictions, and the extension of other support measures, such as business rates relief, into the next financial year."
Boris Johnson is expected to announce how some elements of the UK’s lockdown can be loosened on Monday.
Airlines have already written to the prime minister with their own call for an extension to the furlough scheme and waiving air passenger duty.