Major British travel companies call on government to withdraw plans for 14-day quarantine

The UK’s most influential travel companies have written to the UK home secretary, Priti Patel, urging for an immediate withdrawal of government plans to impose a mandatory 14-day quarantine on anyone arriving in the UK. The government announced last week that it would be introducing the quarantine measures for passengers entering the UK from 8 June 2020.

In the letter, the signatories said: “The very last thing the travel industry needs is a mandatory quarantine imposed on all arriving passengers which will deter foreign visitors from coming here, deter UK visitors from travelling abroad and, most likely, cause other countries to impose reciprocal quarantine requirements on British visitors, as France has already announced.”

Over 70 leading CEOs and chairpersons endorsed the letter on behalf of their companies, which together employ thousands of people in the UK. The companies include Abercrombie & Kent, Rocco Forte Hotels, Der Touristik, Mr & Mrs Smith, Red Savannah, &Beyond, Kirker Holidays, Scott Dunn, Black Tomato, The Peninsula London, Claridges, The Berkeley, The Goring, Mandarin Oriental, Rosewood Hotels, The Savoy, The Ritz London, The Dorchester, Hotel Café Royal, Jumeirah Carlton Tower, The Landmark Hotel, Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill, Shangri-La The Shard Hotel, Original Travel, Cookson Adventures, Cazenove & Loyd and ATD Travel Services.