Nine UK travel associations have joined forces to launch the Travel Industry Alliance (TIA), representing both inbound and outbound travel.
Co-Chairman Danny Callaghan, who is also CEO of LATA said: “Trade and consumers need to make informed decisions about where they can go rather than being effectively banned.
“The current FCDO advice is rather moot in most cases anyway because countries with Covid-19 problems will close their borders, making destination availability almost self-regulating.”
Second Co-Chair, AITO Deputy Chairman Derek Moore said: “We know that quarantine on arrival will render inbound tourism impossible, which also impacts on outbound tourism due to reduced demand for flights, as well as harming the UK’s hospitality and retail sectors.”
Participating associations are:
- AITO
- ATTA
- BAR UK (Board of Airline Representatives)
- BTA (The Business Travel Association)
- CLIA
- CTO (Caribbean Tourism Organisation – UK & Europe Chapter)
- LATA (Latin American Travel Association)
- PATA UK & Ireland Chapter (Pacific Asia Travel Association)
- UKinbound
TIA says one of its immediate aims is to persuade the UK Government to end the mandatory quarantine of UK arrivals ‘as soon as possible’.
Another pressing objective is to encourage the Foreign Office (FCDO) to stop issuing travel advisories due to Covid-19 and instead become purely a source of information.