2 week quarantine would be devastating to travel sector, study finds

Clickstay, an online holiday rentals platform, spoke with 711 people in their database who would normally go on holiday abroad in the summer. 

A massive 79% said they would NOT go on holiday abroad this summer if the government follows through with their plan to force holidaymakers to quarantine for two weeks on their return. 

"The statistic is a massive blow to the tourism sector. Many travel and hospitality companies had to begun to raise their hopes of recouping some revenue this summer, after Spain announced they would welcome tourists from July onwards.", said Tom Hughes, Founder and MD at Clickstay. 

"While some demographics could fairly easily quarantine for two weeks on arrival home, such as pensioners or people who are able to work remotely, this is impossible for those who have to be at their place of work, such as bus drivers or doctors, as they would need to take two added weeks of leave to quarantine properly", he added. 

The survey results come as leaders of more than 70 UK travel and hospitatlity businesses have signed a peition urging Home Secretary Priti Patel to drop the plans. 

It is not just travel companies who will lose out. Many British foreign property owners will likely lose out as well. Mark, a property owner in Tenerife, said, "It's really frustrating. We rely on the revenue we generate from renting out our property to British tourists, but I can't see that happening now if the government follows through with this plan." 

Clickstay's survey also cast doubt on how effective the government's mandatory two week quarantine would be. 54% of the respondents who said they would go on holiday regardless of the quarantine period, admitted they would simply ignore the 2 week quarantine when they got home. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Priti Patel justified the timing of the restrictions saying: "Arrivals to the UK have been down 99%. Now we're past the peak we must take this action as the number of travellers increases because these could become a high proportion of infections in the UK".