ANITA Welcomes Traffic Light Update but Says “It Doesn’t Go Far Enough”

The latest update to the traffic light system has seem more countries added to the Green List and France put back to Amber, however local travel agent body ANITA says the update "doesn't go far enough"

The latest update to the traffic light system has seem more countries added to the Green List and France put back to Amber, however local travel agent body ANITA says the update “doesn’t go far enough”.

Damian Murphy from the Association of Northern Ireland Travel Agents (ANITA) said: “ANITA welcome any move forward on the traffic light system and this time we have some green additions as well as France returning to Amber and we feel, rightfully so, but saying that those returning from Spain and its islands should take a full PCR test where possible once again adds to the confusion. It appears this is a suggestion rather than a rule and we already have people asking what they should do.

“The industry as a whole had been hoping for some relaxation on the test before leaving your destination and 2 days after return as we seem to be the only European country insisting on this but this did not happen. The UK government have assured us there will be no backtracking during the next 3 weeks which I suppose is a positive but really the changes are too little too late. It is imperative that the next review in 3 weeks time takes a more meaningful approach to getting travel going again as anything beyond that will be too late to save our autumn business.

“Last nights review would also have been a good time to mention and acknowledge the hardship our industry has been facing and to give us some indication if there might be any future financial help, but again nothing!”

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