The Business Travel Association (BTA) has called on the
government to remove all quarantine for business travellers and to create
bi-lateral travel corridors for the most important business
travel routes.
The call comes in the BTA’s submission to the global travel
taskforce, which will report to the UK Government on 12 April with a view to
opening up international travel as soon as 17 May.
The association is making six key demands as part of its submission:
- Removal of all quarantine requirements for
business travellers, at both ends of the route;
- Implementation of global standards for testing
and health certification;
- Creation of business travel bi-lateral corridors,
specifically from the UK to Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, the
Netherlands, the USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE and China;
- Consider Red List countries to be covered under
the FCDO “all but essential travel” advice;
- A 72-hour window before any introduction of a
country to a red list; and
- Recognition that the entire business travel
supply chain should operate safely and in tandem.
The BTA has also given its own roadmaps for the reopening of
specific sectors of business travel, including international air, meetings and
events and ground transportation.
In its submission, the BTA said, “Business travel has seen
firms collapse, revenues plummet, and numerous skilled and hardworking
employees made redundant. It has benefitted from some of the support made
available by Government, but not to the same extent as leisure travel which has
been able to draw upon a more extensive pool of grants and business rates
relief.
“It would be no exaggeration to say that Covid-19 has been the
single greatest calamity to befall the business travel industry in two decades,
and it has been no easy task to weather the storm.”
Suzanne Horner, the BTA’s chairwoman, said: “Business travel is a
lifeblood of the UK economy and the Government must treat it as the necessity
that it is, rather than a nice to have.
“The recommendations we have made in our submission reflect the business travel
industry’s skills and experience, and we stand ready to work hand in hand with
Government to quickly and effectively implement them.”