Return of the iconic Venice Simplon-Orient-Express cancelled due to quarantine restrictions
The eagerly awaited return of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express has been postponed until March next year as a result of continuing Covid concerns and the requirement of all travellers entering the UK from France to quarantine for two weeks.
The train had been due to come back into service yesterday with a journey from Venice to London, sending out a powerful signal that travel – and in particular the romance of travel – was far from dead. But the continuing quarantine requirements for travellers from France, Switzerland and Austria – three of the countries the train passes through – led the company to defer the return.
“This is a very bitter sweet moment because yesterday was meant to be the first journey that we were going to be doing and we were really well set up for that,” said Gary Franklin, the Vice President, Trains & Cruises at Belmond. “Even with the quarantine requirement, we could perhaps have operated because we were in transit through a lot of the countries, we decided uncertainty perhaps the risk of putting guests in a situation where they might have to go into quarantine meant that it was impractical to start up again. We have made the decision now that we won’t operate before 2021.”
The train had originally been due to resume operations in July but that had to be delayed because of ongoing restrictions on where British travellers could go. When travel to certain countries was opened up again in early July hopes were raised – only to be dashed again with the introduction a month later of quarantine requirements on travellers from France.
Belmond had gone to great lengths to ensure that the train would be compliant with Covid safety requirements. Passengers were to have their temperatures taken before boarding, the numbers on board were to be reduced from a possible 176 to 96 and a system of rigorous cleaning had been put in place.
“It is bitterly disappointing,” said Mr Franklin. “Everyone has been working so hard to make sure the train can operate safely but like many in the travel industry, it has been very hard to deal with these rapidly changing requirements.
“The problem with quarantine is that it’s like hitting a nut with a sledgehammer, it’s not very nuanced or subtle. I think the broad brush approach has been quite damaging. There will be a lot of people out there that will be struggling on the back of this.”
Mr Franklin said Belmond was very supportive of the Telegraph’s Test4Travel campaign to introduce testing at airports and other points of entry to the UK which could significantly reduce or even remove the need for people to quarantine.
“As tests for travel become available, we would be a supporter of those initiatives,” he said. “For our passengers, they could be implemented at Folkestone or Calais.”
Prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus, Belmond had been looking forward to a bumper year, with record bookings for its luxury train journeys. It now expects demand to transfer to next year – with 60 percent of those who had been due to travel on the VSOE in 2020 transferring to 2021.
“We are really lucky, people really do want to travel on that train and if they can’t do it this year they will hopefully be able to do it in 2021. The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is a wonderful experience to be savoured at at a slow pace. The romance of travel will return.”
For news updates on the Venice Simplon Orient Express, see belmond.com
For more on the Telegraph's Test4Travel campaign, see telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/test4travel-quarantine-testing-airport/
