Pressure mounts over immigration chaos

Friday, 02 May, 2012 0

The travel industry is putting increasing pressure on the Government over the recent chaos at airport immigration.

Mary Rance, chief executive for UKinbound, has called on the Home Office and UK Border Agency to recognise that "staffing at UK Borders should be for life not just the Olympics."

"Where is the sense of urgency?" she asked. "It is all well and good drafting in emergency staff from Manchester but what does that quick fix solve? Papering over the cracks is not the answer.

"What the government must realise is that there is life after the Olympics. The UK’s brand image and reputation is on the line. We cannot afford to lose potential visitors, business travellers and investors to the UK. We do not have that luxury."

Meanwhile Nigel Pocklington at Hotels.com is warning that any prolonged delays could have far reaching consequences.

"Continuing border delays at Heathrow airport risk damaging London’s reputation as a tourist destination on the eve of the city’s most exciting summer for a lifetime," he said.

"Pictures of lengthy queues at passport control being beamed around the world could put travellers off from visiting the UK. This problem has to be resolved quickly and decisively in order to restore confidence."

by Bev Fearis

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Bev

Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.

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