Although the UK’s 14-day Quarantine for all international arrivals started this week (on Monday 08 June).

The wrong policy at the wrong time

We have blogged before that this quarantine is the ‘wrong policy at the wrong time’. We were not alone:

Britain’s quarantine plan for travellers is too little too late, Guardian, 04 June
Quarantine plan risks doing untold damage for no obvious gain, Telegraph, 22 May
Europe & Britain both claim to follow ‘the science’ – so why is it opening borders while we close them?, Telegraph, 26 May

Labour MP Ben Bradshaw summarised the situation well:

“There are no public health benefits of a blanket quarantine at this stage. This is simply a fig leaf to disguise Priti Patel’s embarrassment at not having had a quarantine at the beginning of the outbreak.”

Quarantine may end before July

However, the positive news is that there are signs that an unqualified quarantine may only be in force for a few weeks.

Much of this is due to the well-organised lobbying by the informal ‘Quash Quarantine’ group, headed by consultant Paul Charles and George Morgan-Grenville from tour operator Red Savannah.

This group has grown from the 80 top hotels and travel firms that started lobbying Priti Patel last month to over 500 travel and hospitality companies.

Number have increased since then, as the group was joined by members of AITO, who had accused the government of trying to stop foreign travel completely this summer to keep tourism money within the UK.

‘Air Bridges’ may start on 26 June

In the last week, there have been some positive signs, without the government committing to any public announcement.

“There is a lot going on,” said an industry source. “It looks like an announcement on June 25 or 26. It’s what the DfT is intimating to airlines.”

These travel corridors would operate between the UK and countries with low infection rates and would be likely to include the key countries (for the ski industry) of France, Switzerland and Austria.

Join ‘Quash Quarantine’ now

Lobbying makes a difference. If you are a tour operator or travel company, then please contact the Quash Quarantine group now.

MDs/CEOs can send their name, title and company to George Morgan-Grenville getgoing@redsavannah.com

Let’s get lobbying, keep putting pressure on the government and hopefully this idiotic quarantine policy can be dropped as soon as possible and the travel industry can get on with selling holidays again.