Suffolk travel agency concerned lockdown fines will put people off booking holidays
People arriving at airports could face fines of up to £5,000 from today.
An independent travel agency in Suffolk is concerned lockdown fines will put people off booking future holidays.
From today (29 March) people who go to an airport without a reasonable excuse, while overseas travel remains banned, could face fines of up to £5,000.
It has been prohibited throughout the current lockdown, with the only exemptions being work, education, moving home, or major family events.
The introduction of fines for people going to an airport, and speculation about permitted locations when restrictions allow, is feared to have added to the uncertainty of people hoping to book holidays.
Julie Croucher, Director of Travel With Jules, thinks the deterrents have been heavily confused over recent weeks.
She said: "People are misunderstanding that this is a new regulation that's going to be brought in for however long in the future. The fact is, at the moment we are still in lockdown and travel for non-essential reasons is not permitted.
"All the Government is saying is, if you travel against lockdown regulations, you will be fined."
While the fines will not apply to any future holidaymakers, as holidays abroad won't return until 17 may at the earliest, there's concern the attention it has received will put people off altogether.
Julie continued: "The only way it fines will affect us is, for that exact reason, people hear the wrong things.
"It's the same with all the speculation recently about some holidays won't happen or we won't be able to travel to Europe in the summer. It's total speculation, nothing has changed since the initial announcement by the Prime Minister back in February."
The Global Travel Taskforce is expected to report back to Boris Johnson on 12 April with recommendations on a return to international travel, while still managing the risk of coronavirus infection and variants.
A date for the return of holidays abroad will then be determined but will not be any earlier than 17 May, which was originally set out in the February roadmap
According to the Government website, reopening international travel will depend on:
- The global and domestic epidemiological picture
- Prevalence and location of any variants of concern
- Vaccination progress here and abroad
- More knowledge on efficacy of vaccines on variants and their impact.
Julie highlighted that, even when international travel returns, it is not guaranteed what restrictions will be in place in other countries.
While we await more information from 12 April, the independent travel agency revealed there is "a lot of pent up demand" for holidays to places like Lapland and winter-sun locations in the Christmas and New Year period.