UK Travel Industry Pushes Back on Quarantine Plan

As the United Kingdom prepares to launch a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine for all arrivals into the country starting June 8, the travel and hospitality industry is calling for the government’s quarantine plans to be scrapped.

A letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, which has collected over 200 signatures as of June 1, warns that “The very last thing the travel industry needs is a mandatory quarantine imposed on all arriving passengers, which will deter foreign visitors from coming here, deter UK visitors from travelling abroad and, most likely, cause other countries to impose reciprocal quarantine requirements on British visitors, as France has already announced.”

A total of 217 travel and hospitality companies had endorsed the letter, including Sir Rocco Forte, Abercrombie and Kent, Red Savannah, Scott Dunn, Claridges, The Ritz, The Connaught, Mandarin Oriental, Mr and Mrs Smith, Original Travel, Kuoni, Travelbag, iescape, Gold Medal, Cosmos, Active Travel Group, Neilson, Inghams, Hotelplan, Travel Republic and Chef Jason Atherton.

Instead, the industry is calling for ‘air bridges’ to be created which would exempt arrivals from certain destinations “deemed safe from coronavirus and with strong healthcare systems in place.” The government has previously stated that such air bridges are under consideration.

The campaign’s leader, George Morgan-Grenville, CEO of tour operator Red Savannah, said: “This is not just a group of company bosses complaining, but employees from bottom to top calling for the quarantine plans to be quashed. The extent of their pain is deeply worrying for our economy and our country.”