The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has warned the UK Government that it has just 30 days to save struggling travel businesses from going under.
With the furlough scheme coming to an end on 30 September, the future of hundreds of thousands of employees are at stake and the next four weeks are ‘critical’, the WTTC says.
The next Global Travel Taskforce review is on 1 October and the WTTC also warns that, unless international travel opens up more widely, with simplified controls, the UK economy faces a loss of £59.4 billion over the final quarter of 2021.
In addition, £8.9billion could be lost purely due to the lack of inbound travel spending within the UK.
WTTC President and CEO Julia Simpson said: “Vast economic wealth and even more jobs in travel and tourism could be lost in 30 days’ time, if significant travel doesn’t resume by the same time the furlough scheme ends.
“Companies are facing a desperate future unless the Government supports the sector by introducing sensible controls that build traveller confidence while keeping the UK safe.
“We should allow all fully jabbed citizens and visitors to enter the UK with a negative COVID test. There should be no need for quarantine and excessive, expensive testing requirements.
“The UK Government must do everything in its power to protect businesses and jobs in the sector and ensure it doesn’t squander the last quarter of the year. 2021 is in danger of being no better than the last for the travel and tourism sector, despite the incredibly successful vaccine rollout.
“The next 30 days are critical to get travel back on track. That means abandoning the traffic lights system and reducing the current testing regime so that it is simpler and cheaper.”
