Coronavirus travel UK: Furious bosses blast government for ‘overlooking’ beleaguered sector
‘We’ve been FORGOTTEN’: Furious travel bosses blast government for ‘overlooking’ beleaguered sector after holidays are ruled ‘not valid’ reason to leave UK in latest borders crackdown
- Priti Patel confirms there will be Australian-style quarantine scheme
- South America, Portugal and southern Africa will be the be first to face rules
- Foreign citizens already banned from coming to the UK from those places
- Travellers from those regions to be told to isolate for 10 days in hotels
- Travel industry chiefs have slammed the Government for ‘forgetting’ any support
Furious travel bosses today blasted the Government for ‘overlooking’ the beleaguered sector after holidays were ruled ‘not valid’ as a reason to leave the UK in Priti Patel’s latest border crackdown.
The Home Secretary read the riot act to would-be travellers tonight warning that people on fake work jaunts and influencers heading for sunny destinations will be turned away from airports.
But industry chiefs felt ‘forgotten’ as the measures blocked Britons from booking overseas travel for the purpose of a holiday.
One angry airline source told MailOnline enforcing the restrictions would ‘present challenges’ amid fears check-in staff will be told to make judgements on what constitutes a legitimate journey.
Ms Patel also declared that Britons returning from around 30 ‘red list’ Covid countries will be forced to quarantine in hotels for 10 days at their own expense.
Gary Lewis, CEO of The Travel Network Group, told MailOnline: ‘We urge the government to deliver a roadmap to restart travel, to review the specific sector support required and deliver a test and release regime that is cost effective and could reduce or remove the need to quarantine.
‘Asking travellers to pay for ten days in an airport hotel in addition to the cost of travel and their holiday will be prohibitive to most holidaymakers and will essentially make travel to or from these destinations impossible.
‘As an industry, we are willing the successful rollout of vaccines, and we also need the government to address agreed protocols with other countries, testing, extension to furlough and revised schemes to protect and support travel businesses.’
The Home Secretary heralded a huge squeeze on ‘non-essential’ journeys as she revealed that even during lockdown individuals have been flouting the rules – including by turning up to go abroad carrying skis. But pin a statement to MPs, there was no mention of any support for travel agents and airlines amid the tightening restrictions.
She said anyone travelling for a holiday now faces being sent home again, and will have to fill out a legal declaration that they are going for essential purposes. ‘Going on holiday is not a valid reason to travel,’ she swiped.
The dramatic announcement came as:
- The EU indicated it could move to restrict export of jabs and launched a bid to have British supplies diverted to Europe;
- Tensions between AstraZeneca and the EU over stocks of jabs have ramped up with a meeting being cancelled, after it emerged the bloc signed contracts three months later than the UK;
- Ministers are unveiling details of enforced ‘quarantine hotels’ for travellers from Covid hotspots, amid claims Priti Patel wanted a tougher border shutdown;
- Mr Johnson has condemned a Labour call for all teachers to be vaccinated over half-term and other key workers to be pushed up the priority list;
- Figures showed more than 30,000 care home residents in England and Wales have had Covid put on their death certificate.
Priti Patel today revealed Britons returning from more than 20 ‘red list’ Covid countries will be forced to quarantine in hotels for 10 days
MailOnline understands that hundreds of arrivals each day are expected to be escorted directly from airports to rooms, where they will have to stay for the duration of their isolation and pay a bill estimated at £1,500 – although ministers hope the numbers will ‘fall through the floor’ as people avoid coming to the UK.
It will only affect British travellers, as foreign citizens who have been in the countries are already banned from entering altogether.
But the travel industry has demanded more support amid the tightening restrictions. A spokesman for AITO, the specialist travel association, said: ‘We have been totally overlooked. We report to five ministries for starters – less than ideal.
Passengers queuing at Heathrow Airport on January 21. MailOnline understands that hundreds of arrivals each day are expected to be escorted directly from airports to rooms
An empty Lavante beach in Benidorm today. The travel industry has demanded more support amid the tightening restrictions. A spokesman for AITO, the specialist travel association, said: ‘We have been totally overlooked. We report to five ministries for starters – less than ideal’
Hard graft: Yazmin Oukhellou told fans she was, ‘[In Dubai] for work purposes, for business’, but added: ‘Obviously we’ll make the most of it while we’re here as well.’ Right, Laura Anderson was met with a furious backlash when she moaned about how hard it was to be an ‘influencer’
Chloe Ferry, who travelled out to Dubai at the end of last year – before lockdown measures were introduced, originally claimed she had hoped to stay for ‘two months’
‘We urgently need help or many of AITO’s 200 plus specialist tour operators and specialist travel agents will fail for no good reason, adding to the misery and burden of State Aid.’
An ABTA spokesman added: ‘We understand the Government’s need to introduce temporary additional restrictions in response to emerging new strains of the virus, but this needs to come with support for the jobs and businesses affected and a clear roadmap forward for travel.
‘It is now 12 months since the travel industry started to be affected by coronavirus, yet the Government has still not provided any tailored financial support to the sector.
‘Jobs are being lost at an alarming rate and longstanding businesses have gone to the wall. The lack of financial support targeted at addressing the consequences for businesses of international travel restrictions needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
‘The introduction of quarantine hotels for “red list countries” builds on a mountain of existing measures for travel, and we need to see a clear plan for how these will be lifted.
‘The Government needs to work with the industry to develop a route forward for reopening travel, reviewing all of the existing measures and coordinating with overseas governments.
‘While the vaccine rollout is positive, the industry cannot wait for the whole UK adult population to be vaccinated before travel restarts – and businesses cannot afford to lose another summer.
‘We also know that many people have a desire to get back to experiences that they value highly and have missed dearly, including travel to visit family and friends abroad.’
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said more restrictions would ‘materially delay the recovery of the UK aviation sector’.
They added: Public health and protecting the NHS must come first and we recognise the need for UK Government to act now to reduce the risk of Covid-19 variants entering the UK. However, border control policy must be based on science and data and it is important that a clear set of conditions are agreed upfront to allow for the removal of restrictions altogether.
‘When the time is right, we should aim for 72 hour pre-departure testing or proof of vaccination to replace quarantine entirely, creating the conditions for free movement of goods and people.
‘National lockdown and additional border restrictions will continue to materially delay the recovery of a UK aviation sector under severe strain and depending on the length of restrictions, sector specific support will be needed. Travel and aviation is vital to the UK’s economic recovery and the emergence of a Global Britain post Brexit.’
Ms Patel herself is believed to have been pushing for a much tougher regime alongside Matt Hancock and Michael Gove, but was overruled after resistance from Rishi Sunak, Dominic Raab and Grant Shapps, and warnings it would ‘kill’ the aviation industry.
The government is facing the prospect of a revolt from UK nations, with Nicola Sturgeon threatening to impose her own more brutal curbs in Scotland, and Wales saying they do not go far enough.
Labour said ministers were ‘behind the curve’ in protecting the country’s borders.
But making the case for the government in a Commons statement, Ms Patel said: ‘It is clear that there are still too many people coming in and out of our country each day.
‘And today I am announcing further action to strengthen the health measures we already have at the border, but to reduce passenger flow so that only a small number of people for whom it is absolutely essential to travel are doing so and therefore reducing the risk to our world-leading vaccine programme.’
Under the push to clamp down on travel, airlines are expected to be fined if they fail to enforce non-exemptions properly after influencers were accused of ‘taking the p***’ by jetting out to Dubai, claiming their Instagram updates constituted work.
‘Even at St Pancras people have been turning up with their skis,’ Ms Patel said. ‘We see plenty of influencers on social media showing off about which parts of the world they are in… Going on holiday is not a valid reason to travel.’
Ms Patel pointed to the lockdown laws, saying ‘people should be staying at home unless they have a valid reason to leave’.
‘We will introduce a new requirement so that people wishing to travel must first make a declaration as to why they need to travel,’ she said.
‘This reason for travel will be checked by carriers prior to departure and this approach effectively mirrors the checks on arrivals that are already in place with the passenger locator form.’
The limited Australian-style quarantine scheme follows concerns about new Covid variants entering Britain – but ignores a plea from Ms Patel and Health Secretary Matt Hancock to apply the diktat to all arrivals.
Confusingly, Boris Johnson told the House earlier that 22 countries will be on the quarantine list – but in fact the current ‘red list’ of countries from where only British nationals can come to the UK is much wider than that.
Ms Patel did not give a full roll call of the states included when she addressed MPs.
She said the government does have estimates for how many people will need to quarantine in hotels, but refused to give them. Sources said the numbers of arrivals going into the accommodation is likely to be in the hundreds to start with, but should fall quickly.
And although she suggested there is an ‘immediate’ crackdown the start date for the enforced quarantine is not clear.
At PMQs this afternoon, Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Government had ‘failed’ by being ‘too slow’ to bring it in and claiming that quarantining arrivals from 22 countries ‘doesn’t go far enough’.
Passengers arriving in Britain from any of the listed countries will have to isolate for 10 days in hotels near airports and pay around £1,500 for the privilege.
Boris Johnson told the Commons: ‘I want to make clear that under the stay at home regulations, it is illegal to leave home to travel abroad for leisure purposes and we will enforce this at ports and airports by asking people why they are leaving and instructing them to return home if they do not have a valid reason to travel.
‘We have also banned all travel from 22 countries where there is a risk of known variants including South Africa, Portugal and South American nations.
‘And in order to reduce the risk posed by UK nationals and residents returning home from these countries, I can announce that we will require all such arrivals who cannot be refused entry to isolate in Government provided accommodation, such as hotels, for 10 days without exception.
‘They will be met at the airport and transported directly into quarantine. The Department of Health and Social Care is working to establish these facilities as quickly as possible.’
The ‘test and release’ scheme, which allows travellers to leave quarantine if they have a negative Covid test on the fifth day in isolation, cannot be used for countries on the ‘red list’, so is unaffected by the changes.
Scores of influencers and millionaires have fled to Dubai to lounge in luxury hotels during lockdown.
Laura Anderson, Molly-Mae Hague, Maura Higgins, Amber Davies, Georgia Harrison and Kady McDermott were among those to jet off before the third national lockdown.
Expats working in Dubai and following the rules have accused them of ‘taking the f***ing p***’ by claiming they are in the city for work, and risking spreading the virus by partying and flouting social distancing.
MailOnline has also been inundated with emails from people in Spain, the USA, Canada, Pakistan and South America worried that they may be caught up in the new quarantine scheme and admitting they may rush home to avoid it.
Yesterday it was revealed private flights into a Dubai airport soared by 78 per cent at the end of last year compared to 2019, as travellers, including Love Island stars, rushed to escape lockdown and spend Christmas there.
The quarantine plans split the cabinet with Ms Patel backing a total travel ban that would close Britain’s borders.
But Mr Shapps and Mr Raab have been arguing strongly for any decision on whether to widen the list to be delayed.
Yesterday the Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Covid operations committee – which includes participants from the Home Office, the Department of Transport and the Foreign Office – to put the seal on the decision.
Many stars have insisted their trips are for ‘work’ with the government asking UK residents to avoid unnecessary travel.
An agent, whose client had travelled to Dubai, told the Mirror earlier this month: ‘We manage their social media accounts and I’ve seen a number of death threats in direct messages.
‘It’s been relentless. We warned them not to travel abroad while a lot of the nation is under severe restrictions as it’s a terrible look, but they ignored it.’
Travel chiefs warned quarantine hotels could ‘decimate’ the beleaguered sector.
Airline bosses wrote to Mr Johnson warning firms could go bust and tens of thousands of jobs lost if summer holidays are cancelled for a second year.
The letter was signed by easyJet chief Johan Lundgren, Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss, British Airways boss Sean Doyle, Jet2 CEO Steve Heapy and David Burling, CEO of markets and airlines for package holiday giant Tui.
They called for an ‘urgent roadmap for the reopening of air travel’ as vaccines are rolled out and life begins returning to normal.
They said Britain already has ‘some of the toughest border restrictions on international arrivals anywhere in the world’.
And they hit out at ministers for failing to share any ‘compelling scientific evidence that introducing a policy potentially of blanket quarantine in hotels is necessary in addition to measures only recently introduced’.
The letter follows a string of announcements on restrictions at borders, including passengers needing proof of a pre-flight negative Covid-19 test and the scrapping of the ‘travel corridor’ safe list of countries.
The ban does not include British and Irish nationals, longer-term visa holders and permanent residents, who are required to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival.
The airline chiefs pointed out that the aviation industry supports about 1.56million jobs and contributes £88.8billion to the economy, or about 4.5 per cent of UK GDP.
They added: ‘With each day the UK is isolated from the world, causing untold economic damage, both to the UK’s essential aviation infrastructure – its airlines, airports and ground handlers – but also to those businesses that depend on the UK’s connectivity within a global economy.’
The industry is calling for a ‘bespoke support package’, saying measures up until now have been inadequate. They say business rates relief can currently amount to as little as 4 per cent for larger operators such as Heathrow.
Separately, the World Travel and Tourism Council warned shutting down UK borders further could wipe out more than £548million from the UK economy every day. The travel industry is ending its worst January on record in terms of forward bookings.
Government sources told MailOnline the decisions on the quarantine plan went ‘down to the wire’.
They also cautioned that some of those coming in might not be able to pay for their own hotel stay, and there might need to be means-tested support.
‘There’s a problem with Brits with not a lot of money … you can see it coming like a slow motion steamroller.’
It came as Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said it was ‘too early’ to book a summer holiday abroad – but some anxious Britons took to social media to admit the warning came too late, with some having bought flights for as early as the half-term holidays in mid-February.
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel company The PC Agency, said: ‘This is destroying confidence among holidaymakers.
‘People are not booking summer holidays because they don’t believe there is an end game which will see these blanket measures removed.
‘This is a sure-fire way of destroying Britain’s aviation and travel industries.
‘The Government needs to signal that they will withdraw the hotel quarantine rules by the end of March and return to a system of quarantining arrivals from high-risk areas only.’
In a joint statement, the Airport Operators Association and Airlines UK insisted the country already has ‘some of the highest levels of restrictions in the world’ and that introducing tougher rules would be ‘catastrophic’.
ABTA has urged all its travel agent members to lobby MPs in a bid to convince Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to agree a multi-billion pound cash bailout for the industry.
A small number of Britons say they are now stuck in Spain and the Canary Islands, where the usually bustling beaches and promenades were largely deserted, as experts fear Mr Johnson’s quarantine plan could bankrupt Britain’s already ailing tourism industry.
And photographs from some of Europe’s most popular resorts, including Benidorm, show its beaches are deserted with bar and restaurant owners telling MailOnline they will go bust if the Brits don’t visit this year.
Stuey Lee Lewis, 70, owner of the Geordie Bar Tat in Benidorm’s Rincon area, said: ‘Things are really bad. We had locals in but we can’t survive on locals, we need the Brits. I know they’re missing our home-cooked chips, a cold beer and our sun terrace’.
Expat Terence Burgess, 74, told MailOnline: ‘I was in Benidorm last week and there wasn’t a soul about. It was very sad to see. I went to my favourite karaoke bar to sing and I was the only one in there’.
The quarantine measures will lead to a slew of cancellations and people will not book summer breaks in yet another economic hammer blow to holiday firms and airlines, particularly if, as feared, the travel restrictions stretch into the peak season. Industry leaders have called for a better sector-specific bailout package from the Chancellor.
But the Prime Minister last night said he wanted ‘maximum possible protection against reinfection from abroad’ to prevent new coronavirus variants jeopardising the vaccination programme.
At a meeting of the Covid-O committee last night, Cabinet ministers considered making it compulsory for all travellers to quarantine at hotels, regardless of their nationality and where they come from.
One government source told MailOnline beforehand that the decisions on the detail were ‘going down to the wire’.
‘The meeting will be where the decision is taken. It’s not just rubber stamping.’
Boris Johnson (pictured today) will impose Australian-style quarantine scheme, which is being introduced following concerns about new Covid variants. Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer says limiting it to arrivals from 22 countries ‘doesn’t go far enough’.
James Lock and his girlfriend Yazmin Oukhellou posed for a snap while lapping up the sunshine in Dubai last week
Sheridan Mordew, 24, from Sunderland, arrived in Dubai on January 2, just a few days before the third national lockdown
Many stars have insisted their trips are for ‘work’ with the government asking UK residents to avoid unnecessary travel. Pictured: Geordie Shore’s Sophie Kasaei in Dubai
They also cautioned that some of those coming in might not be able to pay for their own hotel stay, and there might need to be means-tested support. ‘There’s a problem with Brits with not a lot of money… You can see it coming like a slow motion steamroller,’ the source said.
Passengers arriving into Heathrow Airport have faced chaos for days as they were forced to queue for hours to get through passport control. Pictures of crowds at passport control have become common, raising fears that the lack of social distancing could easily spread Covid.
The Government has reportedly held talks with Marriott and Holiday Inn about using their hotels while Rob Paterson, chief executive of Best Western hotels group, said the hotel industry was ready to assist if the Government did opt for a policy of quarantining international arrivals.
Government sources last night say ministers will look to widen the compulsory hotel quarantine requirement to cover more travellers.
Officials warned it will be ‘logistically challenging’ to put the system in place and it could take as long as three weeks to get it up and running. Concerns have been raised that there are only 10,000 hotel rooms close to London’s Heathrow airport.
About 8,000 people are still arriving there every day, although this number would be expected to plummet once the new restrictions are introduced.
The plan to require arrivals to go into isolation at airport hotels is modelled on Australia, where the cost of 14 days in quarantine is £1,692.
It is estimated that travellers entering the UK could be charged about £1,500 for a ten-night stay. The travel industry has warned that the added cost would destroy holiday plans.
Heathrow had warned that a blanket requirement for travellers to quarantine in hotels would effectively be ‘the closure of our borders’ and lead to ‘huge ramifications for Britain and its aviation sector’.
A spokesman for the airport said the industry was ‘already on its knees’, adding: ‘The Chancellor must finally deliver on his promise of a comprehensive financial support package for UK aviation, made some ten months ago.
Australia became one of the first countries to introduce mandatory hotel quarantine in March, while the practice is also observed in China, New Zealand, India, Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan, Qatar and Thailand.