In what has been a week full of highs and lows for the travel industry, the removal of the Canary Islands from the travel corridor list has come as a huge blow.
ANITA chairman Damian Murphy said: “The early part of this week seemed to be positive and full of hope for everyone with the roll out of the vaccine in the UK and with others countries getting ready to start their programme.
“On the travel side of things there was a major boost for the Scottish travel industry when their executive announced a £5 million support package aimed at helping them get their business through this pandemic. Although we have yet to hear the full details there is real hope of a meaningful package for high street agents and tour operators alike.
“In Northern Ireland the executive announced a £7.8 million support package for Belfast city and Belfast international airports-this has been warmly welcomed by all concerned. Then just last night we got the news that with one days notice anyone returning from the Canary Islands will have to isolate for 14 days. The stop start nature of the way this has been handled together with making it a blanket decision over all the islands is so frustrating.
“People who were due to travel for Christmas and the new year have had their plans thrown into chaos. We re-issue our call to all governments to quickly implement a better testing system -one that is quicker and more affordable -and will help to do away totally with the need for quarantine.
“We once again call on the Northern Ireland executive to look at the outbound travel industry in Northern Ireland and take in this latest blow when considering a package for our industry. We still have real hope that things will be better early spring onwards but we desperately need help getting there.”
