Government doesn’t know whether traffic-light travel system worked traffic light system The UK Government doesn’t know whether the traffic-light system implemented during the pandemic worked. According to a report published today by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), ministers spent £486m on travel measures to contain the spread of Covid but “did not track its spending on managing cross-border travel or set clear objectives.” The group of [...]
British passport sixth most powerful in the world while EU states dominate top ranks Passport rankings The British passport is the world’s sixth most powerful with visa-free or visa on-arrival access to 187 countries. The UK passport was one place ahead of the US at 186 countries, while EU states dominated much of the top rankings, data from Henley & Partners’ 2022 Henley Passport Index showed. Germany and Spain were joint third, [...]
Report warns Covid travel rules imposed without ‘overall assessment’ Covid travel restrictions Covid-induced restrictions on international travel were imposed in England without an “overall assessment” of their impact, according to a report released today. The National Audit Office (NAO) said there was no system put in place by the government to measure the success of self-isolation, passenger control forms and the quarantine hotels. The watchdog also reported [...]
UK removes all travel measures from Friday March 14, 2022 All remaining COVID travel measures, including the Passenger Locator Form and tests for arrivals, will end on Friday, the transport secretary has said.
Hong Kong hit hardest by global collapse of travel as tough restrictions see 95 per cent drop in visitors February 13, 2022 The global pandemic has hit Hong Kong’s travel sector harder than any other country in the world, as the country’s tough travel restrictions have seen a 95 per cent drop in the number of visitors. The value generated by Hong Kong’s travel sector dropped 75 per cent between 2019 and 2020, analysis from Compare the [...]
A culinary pilgrimage through Austria’s spectacular Tyrol February 2, 2022 I was on a pilgrimage to Tyrol in the Austrian Alps, albeit one to satisfy the stomach more than the soul. A culinary journey of rediscovery, if you will. But the first meal I had was far from heavenly – a dry Schnitzelsemmel. Worse still, it was at a motorway service station. Retrospectively, the breaded [...]
CarTrawler CEO Cormac Barry on the travel sector’s long road to recovery January 23, 2022 No more PCR tests before arriving in England and most travel restrictions out of the window. International arrivals will instead be asked to take a lateral flow test on arrival and only to self-isolate if it comes back positive. The UK government’s recent announcements were warmly welcomed by the UK’s aviation and tourism sectors, including [...]
Desperate travel sector demands all international Covid testing requirements are scrapped immediately January 5, 2022 All testing requirements for international travellers should be abolished immediately, the travel industry said this morning. Manchester Airports Group (MAG) and Airlines UK said research they commissioned into travel restrictions found domestic, not international, restrictions would be the only way to reduce the spread of Omicron. Pre-departure and day two PCR testing were reintroduced in [...]
Brits have to pay for entry to the EU from this year: Cash and pre-authorisation needed for post-Brexit trips to Europe January 5, 2022 Brits will have to start paying €7 per person and pre-register their details in order to enter the European Union from this year. Reports had surfaced in various European media in recent weeks that access to all Schengen EU countries would come at a cost from 2022, and when approached by City A.M. this morning, [...]
Exclusive: Nearly 9m Brits face having to cancel or postpone US and European holidays December 30, 2021 Nearly nine million holidaymakers face potentially having to cancel or rearrange trips to the US or mainland Europe that they booked before the introduction of new travel restrictions, according to new research shared exclusively with City A.M. this morning. Nearly one in five adults, around 8.9m Brits, has booked trips to mainland Europe or the [...]