Thursday, 8 July 2021

Travel Companies: Glass Half Empty Organisations?

Some people see half a glass of beer as being half full whereas others see it as half empty. The UK government have announced that, from 19th July, people doubly vaccinated in the UK, travelling to amber (mid risk) countries will not have to quarantine on their return (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jul/08/shapps-confirms-no-quarantine-fully-vaccinated-amber-list-returnees-england-covid). Travellers will have to arrange and pay for PCR tests before and after their trip. This puts such amber list visitors, in the same position, as people travelling to green (alledgedly safe) countries. This essentially makes popular holiday destinations for Brits in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain more accessible (if those countries will have them). An amber list location could, of course, still turn red (requiring expensive hotel quarantine) whilst the individuals were on their visit. The relaxation should, of course, be good news for travel companies and airlines. These commercial organisations are, however, a demanding and glum lot. After welcoming the change, their comments have mainly concerned the a) off-putting nature/expense of the required tests; b) fact that people vaccinated abroad will still currently have to quarantine and c) situation for younger, unvaccinated potential clients. Travel organisations seem to basically want a complete free-for-all, based on their wildly optimistic interpretations of the level of protection offered by vaccination. They don't seem to appreciate that increasing travel, elevates the risk of transmitting variants of Sars-CoV-2. These 'imports' could have considerable financial, as well as human, costs.

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