As the world is trying to grapple with how best to contain Covid-19 now that the majority of countries have got it under control, the focus is beginning to change to international travel and how the sector can restart safely.
Many of us book holiday homes in Spain and spend a week or two soaking up the Spanish sun and beautiful scenery with our friends and family during the summer months. But the Covid-19 pandemic has made it more challenging to plan such getaways.
However, a group of over 500 companies that work in the travel and tourism sector have revealed that it could be possible for Brits to travel to certain European destinations from 1 July.
Quash Quarantine, which is the name of the group, has been lobbying the government to remove the mandatory 14-day self isolation people need to carry out when they arrive in the UK from overseas.
The group recently told the Guardian that a number of senior government officials have privately told them that there will be travel corridors in place by the end of June, which would enable Brits to jet off from July.
Speaking to the newspaper, Quash Quarantine spokesperson Paul Charles said: “We urge the government to signal to the travel industry publicly and urgently that this is the case.”
This isn’t the only organisation in the travel sector that’s calling for greater clarity from the government over when borders may reopen and when Brits will be able to travel overseas – and where they could go.
Mark Tanzer, chief executive of the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta), said that both businesses and travellers would “benefit from the government outlining when this [restarting international travel] is likely to happen”.
There has been much talk in recent weeks about the possibility of air bridges between different countries that would allow travellers to enjoy holidays without the need to self isolate at either end of their stay.
iNews recently reported that the government is in positive discussions with Portugal about establishing an air bridge. However, many other European countries, including Greece and Spain, are waiting to find out what the EU-wide approach for reopening borders might be.
Some countries have already started taking steps to reopen to tourists though. For instance, Italy has already reopened its borders to tourists from the EU or Schengen area, neither of which the UK is part of.
However, Mr Charles told the Guardian that he is hopeful that the UK will have air bridges in place with countries in Europe by the end of this month. He added that any such arrangement will need to be pan-European, because there would be nothing to stop someone flying into one destination and then driving elsewhere in the continent.
He added that travel firms are prepared to start selling holidays and flights from 29 June, when the government is set to review its quarantine measures and when it’s hoped air bridges will be in place.
“There are 30,000 flights set to depart the UK in July; that’s 5.4 million seats across all airports and carriers,” Mr Charles stated.