The prospect of new restrictions on international travel shook the entire travel industry yesterday, increasing pressure on companies already reeling from a year of disruption.
Shares of European airlines plummeted as the UK government prepares to introduce stricter immigration rules due to concerns that new variants of Covid-19 could spread from international travelers.
The governments of Sweden, Belgium and Germany also tightened travel restrictions over the weekend.
IAG, the company that owns British Airways, led the drop in share prices, registering an 8 percent decline, while EasyJet’s fell 7 percent; the price of the Carnival cruise operator’s shares fell 6 percent and Ryanair’s 4 percent at the close of the markets.
The travel groups, already devastated by national lockdowns and border closures due to the health crisis, have warned that these additional measures may be the last straw for their businesses and will undermine consumer confidence during the key period for the summer vacation reservations.
“Things are looking bad and these travel restrictions will make things catastrophic for the industry,” said Andrew Crawley, commercial director of American Express Global Business Travel.
High-level ministers will hold a meeting of the British government’s “covid operations committee” tomorrow, in which the strictest measures are expected to be authorized.
Figures like Chancellor Rishi Sunak now agree to plans to force all people entering Britain to self-quarantine in a hotel – at cost to people – to prevent the spread of the disease. Grant Shapps, the British Secretary for Transport, is among those pushing to limit the new rules to people arriving from countries with the new covid-19 variants.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also confirmed yesterday that he “definitely evaluates” quarantining people arriving in the UK in hotels. “We have to realize that, in theory at least, there is a risk of a new variant that is resistant to the vaccine, we have to be able to keep that under control,” he said.
Johan Lundgren, CEO of EasyJet, said that customer confidence “depends on the flow of news,” but that reservations showed that there was pent-up demand to travel whenever there were signs that governments were relaxing restrictions.
Glyn Jones, CEO of Southend Airport, which currently does not handle passenger flights, said the possibility of more travel restrictions adds to consumer uncertainty during the summer season. “When people are unsure, they tend not to make purchasing decisions,” he said.
Airline and travel executives are resigned to writing off the first few months of this year.
However, there is growing concern that the critical summer season is under threat, especially if the UK introduces a mandatory quarantine in hotels for passengers entering the country.
The government asked hotels that are run by national chains to have rooms available, especially at airport sites, so that people arriving in the country carry out a quarantine for 10 days, and that people are the pay the cost, travel industry advisers said.
“At the moment, the government is just layering layer upon layer of roadblocks to people coming into the country,” said Lana Bennett, chief executive of Tours International, which handles itineraries for tourists traveling to the UK.
The company made £ 1.4 million in revenue in 2019, but Bennett said it had not received any more money since last March and no new bookings have been confirmed for this year.
The travel industry has been careful not to criticize public health measures, but called for a way out of restrictions in time for the peak holiday season.
“Tens of thousands of jobs and billions in business losses are at stake, and therefore we need a roadmap to get out of these restrictions as quickly as possible,” said Tim Alderslade, Executive Director of the Airlines UK industry association. .
Joss Croft, chief executive of UKInbound trade body, said the tourism industry is only going to rebound “when quarantines are lifted” and that financial support is needed to ensure the UK does not lose to competitors during the recovery period. .
Before the COVID health emergency and border closures, the tourism sector of arriving travelers was expected to generate 24.7 billion pounds last year, but VisitBritain’s forecasts released last month show that the number of visits decreased by 76 percent compared to 2019 and that spending fell to 5.7 billion pounds.
The hotel occupancy rate in December 2020 was already at its lowest level since May, according to data released by the analysis company STR.
Citigroup analyst Mark Manduca said Europe’s airlines may need fresh money if summer programs are discontinued. This may mean having to raise fresh capital from shareholders.
With information from: Alice Hancock y Jim Pickard
Prohibition
US President Joe Biden signed an order prohibiting entry to foreigners who have been to South Africa, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and 26 European countries.
Variants
The decree came out of concern that the vaccines may not be effective against the South African variant of Covid-19, which is 50 percent more infectious than the normal strain.
White House
Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the White House, said that given “the worsening of the pandemic and the spread of more variants, it is not the time to lift restrictions” on travel.
Face masks
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, will sign an order requiring the use of masks on all flights and public transport.
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