In another massive blow to the already long-suffering travel industry, the government has today announced the closure of all travel corridors. Travel corridors were established in July 2020 to help the struggling travel industry which was one of the biggest casualties of the Covid 19 pandemic.

From 4am on Monday 18th January, all travellers including foreigners, British nationals and residents arriving from anywhere in the world will have to quarantine for 10 days immediately on arrival. The rules apply to both leisure travellers and those travelling for work.

With 55,761 new Covid cases on Friday, and a further death rate of 1,280 people, the government is not expected to lift these new restrictions until the data demonstrates that the approved Covid-19 vaccines prevent transmission. The ‘test to release’ system is not being withdrawn which means that if travellers arriving in to the UK take a second test on the 5th day after their return and that returns a negative result, they will be entitled to end their quarantine early.

Easter overseas holidays

Since the approval of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine at the end of December 2020, there has been a surge in holiday bookings amongst over 50s. There had been a growing sense of confidence that international travel would resume without onerous restrictions by Easter which resulted in the surge of new bookings. In a further blow to the travel sector, Grant Shapps has suggested that the over 50s market should think twice about booking a holiday this year. When asked whether he himself would be booking a holiday, Mr Shapps responded by stating that he was not planning on booking a holiday at this time.

A silver lining

There is still hope that the UK travel sector will be able to recover faster than many other developed nations in light of the number of vaccinations that have already been completed. With an ambitious target of 24/7 vaccination centres that will inoculate 2 million people a week, the government have promised to vaccinate every adult over the age of 16 by the autumn. As a result, it would appear at this time that an overseas summer holiday in 2021 may be possible for a large proportion of the population and family holidays in October half term and Christmas 2021 should be possible for everyone. As with everything in this pandemic however, new challenges are emerging daily and everything could change for better or for worse with very little notice.