Industry gears up for Travel Day of Action

The main event takes place outside parliament in Westminster starting at 12.30pm, where 800 people are expected to attend, with another 200 at Holyrood in Edinburgh and 100 in Belfast.

Virtual lobbying is being held in Cardiff, with other protests expected at Belfast International, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Heathrow, Luton, Manchester and Southend airports.

In addition, a Twitterstorm will take place at 2pm using the hashtags #speakupfortravel and #traveldayofaction.

Collectively, the industry is calling on the UK government to allow international travel to return safely and “by properly implementing the Global Travel Taskforce’s plan for a traffic-light system” and give a package of tailored financial support to help travel firms unable to trade properly.

Industry figures and politicians have been showing their support on social media this morning.

They include Conservative MP Huw Merriman, chair of the transport select committee, who has repeatedly fought for the travel sector in Westminster throughout the crisis.

The team at Manchester Airport has been showing the impact of the pandemic by comparing flight traffic today against those from 2019.

Both Kuoni boss Derek Jones and Sunvil MD Chris Wright have shared their analogies at the hypocrisy of government’s treatment of the industry.

TTG will be bringing you live coverage of Travel Day of Action all day, with the team stationed at College Green in Westminster where up to 800 travel industry professionals will gather from 12.30pm.