Scottish agents urge customers to join quarantine opposition

Scottish Travel Agents are encouraging their customers to write to their MP to seek their support for the creation of air bridges to replace the blanket quarantine.

President of the Scottish Passenger Agents Association Joanne Dooey said air bridges could help to save the travel industry.

"Without the introduction of air bridges and/or the removal of the enforced quarantine scheme which comes into effect on Monday 8 June we’re risking the whole future of the travel industry," she said.

"We’re asking the travelling public to contact their MP at Westminster as this is not a devolved issue, to ask that they support the creation of these air bridges. The European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) is also indicating that travellers could fly out of some Scottish airports including Edinburgh and Aberdeen and avoid quarantine at their destination. Glasgow Airport, whose catchment area takes in parts of Scotland where Covid-19 cases were higher, is expected to join the cleared list too in the next two weeks. The possibility of travel is there, if we can have an air bridge agreement.

"Our members know that there is an appetite for foreign travel. 60% of our members have reported that they’ve made new holiday bookings for clients since lockdown. We also know that the most popular destinations for these travellers are Spain, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Cyprus, Portugal and France. Creating air bridges to these countries would at least allow for a phased restart to foreign travel if the Foreign Office also lifts their travel advice ‘not to travel’ at the same time.

"This is not just an issue of people missing their summer holidays. People travel for many different reasons and a third of Scottish residents surveyed by the Advantage Partnership indicated that they are more determined or have the same attitude to travelling abroad despite Covid-19. These survey results mirror our own members’ findings.

"There’s also a massive economic reason to create the air bridges. The value to the UK economy from outbound travel is £37.1 billion or 1.8% of GDP. It is estimated that tourism contributes £106 billion to the British economy and supports 2.6 million jobs."

The SPAA currently has 120 members and 92 associate members across the travel and transport industry.

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