Opinion
The sense of relief across the airline and tourism sectors was positively palpable this past week following confirmation that from July 19, UK passengers who have been double-jabbed will not be required to quarantine when returning to England from amber list countries.
Flight and holiday operators reported an immediate surge in bookings following the announcement by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. EasyJet said bookings to amber list destinations jumped by 400 per cent, with overall holiday bookings more than 440% up on the previous week. Similarly, British Airways and Tui experienced a swell in website activity.
The change does not affect passengers travelling in and out of Scotland, as was noted by Jet2 chief executive Steve Heapy. Having that morning published accounts showing that the budget travel operator fell nearly £374 million into the red last year, Mr Heapy was by the afternoon striking a considerably more upbeat note.
“It is fantastic news for our customers who want nothing more than to get away, and we cannot wait to take them on their well-deserved holidays,” he said. “We look forward to the Scottish and Northern Ireland governments following suit and await further good news from the devolved nations."
But, as Business Editor Ian McConnell pointed out in his Called to Account column on Friday, the outlook for international travel remains far from clear. Changing restrictions, expensive testing requirements, surging infections rates and a lack of skilled labour – a problem across many sectors as the economy continues to open up – all mean that “normality” is still some ways off.
Same too for the wider economy, notwithstanding the fact that the UK Government is acting as if this crisis is just about all over. And of course, for those living in this country, it remains to be seen how much more cautious the Scottish Government will be versus Westminster when it comes to easing restrictions.
The slower relaxation of Covid measures north of the Border was said to be a possible explanation for a near-5% fall in shopper footfall between May and June in what the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) said illustrates “just how far” the industry is from recovery.
Ewan MacDonald-Russell, head of policy at the SRC, said there is a growing need for policymakers to look at ways of reigniting consumer confidence: “While stores can trade, the restrictions on hospitality and office working continue to impact on visits to the high street.”
The First Minister is due to confirm next week plans for further easing restrictions in Scotland on July 19, when the whole of the country is scheduled to move into Level Zero. As things stand, that would allow restaurants and pubs to resume trading under regular licensed hours, though the advice remains for people to continue working from home where possible.
As for the restaurants, well, research this past week indicates they could lose millions in the coming month in what is described as the new “spread-booking craze”, where people make multiple reservations to ensure they have options, but only intend to honour one of them.
Topping the list of cities in the no-show league table was London, with Glasgow in second place. Edinburgh, on the other hand, ranked among the best.
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