Watch top travel CEO Julia Lo Bue-Said in conversation with Simon Calder
One of the leading campaigners for the reopening of international travel has set out her vision for a summer that could save a million jobs.
In conversation with Simon Calder of The Independent Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of Advantage Travel Partnership, called on ministers to open up the “green list” of low-risk destinations at the next available opportunity – 24 June – so that “hard-working British families” could get a summer escape abroad.
The CEO was speaking after the quarantine-free green list shrank significantly, with the removal of the only mainstream holiday destination, Portugal. Tens of thousands of British holidaymakers cut their trips short to return to the UK before the 4am Tuesday deadline.
International leisure travel was only permitted to resume on 17 May, allowing just three weeks before Portugal joined the “amber list”. Anyone now arriving in the UK is required to self-isolate for 10 days – though in England this can be reduced by paying for an additional test on day five.
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The government says travellers should not make non-essential journeys to amber list destinations, while the Labour Party has called for Portugal and the other 170-plus amber list nations to be put onto the red list – requiring 11 nights of hotel quarantine on return to the UK.
Julia Lo Bue-Said said: “To suggest that every country should be on a red list, or that amber means ‘don’t go,’ is a failing policy that provides no clarity for the British people and the travel industry.”
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