Travel: Coronavirus

(asked on 11th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the 14-day quarantine period on the financial viability of businesses in the travel sector.


Answered by
Nigel Huddleston Portrait
Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 19th June 2020

We remain in regular contact with stakeholders, including UKHospitality, UKInbound and the ABTA, to closely monitor COVID-19’s impact on the financial health of businesses in the travel sector. This includes holding discussions about the effect of the 14-day quarantine period.

The Home Office commissioned Her Majesty's Treasury to assess the economic impacts of the mandatory 14 day self-isolation requirement. The Department for Transport fed into this analysis and ensured that the significant impact of the policy on the transport sector was reflected.

We appreciate that the quarantine measures will present significant difficulties for the travel and tourism sectors. The quarantine policy will be reviewed regularly and the first review will take place in the week beginning 28 June. We are also working with the transport industry to see how we can introduce agreements with other countries when safe to do so, so people from the UK can go abroad and tourists can come here.

Travel businesses and workers can access the Government’s economic support package. These include the recently extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, generous loan schemes and VAT payment deferrals for firms.

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