Health minister: 'Travelling is not for this year'
James ChappleHealth minister Lord Bethell has told the House of Lords people should not attempt to travel this year – particularly over the summer months – sparking widespread criticism throughout the travel sector.
Addressing the Lords on Tuesday, Bethell remarked on the importance of having an international travel red list, and the logistical difficulties segregating passengers arriving from countries in different traffic light categories at airports.
"That is why travelling is dangerous, why we tell people not to travel and why, when people do travel, we tell them to isolate," said Bethell.
"Travelling is dangerous, and that is not news to us or to the people who get on those planes in the first place. The ultimate sanction here is that, particularly as we go into the summer, we tell people: ‘Travelling is not for this year. Please stay in this country’."
Bethell’s comments come just two days after the government lifted restrictions on non-essential international travel, based on the recommendations of the Global Travel Taskforce.
The taskforce was instructed to assess how international travel could be restarted safely and robustly, and came back with a traffic light system setting out three tiers of rules for arrivals.
Travel to all three tiers isn’t illegal, but the government is discouraging travel to amber and red list destinations; some airlines and operators are, however, offering flights and holidays to amber list destinations owing to the disparity between the lists and the Foreign Office’s travel advice.
For instance, the FCDO is not advising against all but essential travel to the Canary Islands and some Greek islands, despite both being on the amber list. Operators have taken the stance that the key marker for whether people should travel or not is the FCDO advice, with it being up to individual travellers to asset whether they are able to quarantine on return and pay for the necessary testing.
The confusion follows two days of mixed messages from government ministers on international travel; on Monday, health secretary Matt Hancock said people should not travel to amber list countries for leisure.
Then on Tuesday morning, environment secretary George Eustice said amber list travel was permissible to visit family and friends, only for prime minister Boris Johnson to step in later and set him straight on the government’s line.
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, the trade body for UK registered airlines, led the travel industry’s condemnation of the confusion sown in Westminster. "These comments are simply not correct and will cause real anger among the hundreds of thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on international travel, and confusion among families who have booked travel under the government’s own restart policy, now less than 48 hours old," he said.
"People should not travel to red countries we know that, but to generalise against perfectly legal travel even to green countries is deeply unhelpful."
‘It’s a farce’
Kuoni chief executive Derek Jones tweeted: "The Global Travel Taskforce set out to *safely* facilitate the reintroduction of international travel. Now, two days after their recommendations are implemented, a senior health minister says that ‘all travel abroad is dangerous’. It’s a farce."
Nick Hughes, Gold Medal sales director, said: "Why have amber destinations? Just have red and green. At least everyone would know where we stand. It would be uncomplicated. And while we’re at it, the green list should only contain countries that have a reciprocal deal so they allow UK tourists in."
Haslemere Travel owner Gemma Antrobus posted a string of tweets seeking to reassure clients, reiterating travel is no longer illegal and that travel is a consumer choice balanced against the green, amber and red list rules.
She also stressed the importance of taking out insurance with sufficient Covid cover, and getting up-to-date advice from a travel professional. "70% of adults in the UK have had one vaccine, 40% have had two. The govt has stated they have a high degree of confidence vaccines work against the variants, including the Indian one. So why the mixed messages?"
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