Call for foreign travel to be relaxed for holidaymakers in York and North Yorkshire
We've been speaking to a travel agent with bases in Northallerton and Helmsley - ahead of the next review on foreign travel.
There's a call for foreign travel to be relaxed for holidaymakers in York and North Yorkshire.
It's as the government's COVID-19 global travel taskforce reviews the traffic light system for foreign travel, including which countries should move to the green, amber or red lists and which countries should be added to the 'green watchlist'.
Peter Cookson is the Managing Director of Spear Travels, which has branches in Northallerton and Helmsley: "The main thing is regarding the isolation aspect and that's what is putting people off booking holidays.
"It's the fear that if they go to a green country or one on green watch - like Croatia for example - that might go to amber you've got to isolate on the return if you're not double vaccinated; that's the main thing we want to see disappear and extended until at least the end of October.
"The problem we've really got is that things are chopping and changing so quickly. France has suddenly gone onto amber-plus which means that everyone has to isolate when they come back.
"It's all down to continuity at the end of the day of those countries on the amber list now.
"The problem in the past has been that the Government seemed to take months to make what we'd consider to be the important decisions, then when stuff like this which is obviously important to them occurs - they'll give people two days to get back from places.
"To me, you should really give people two weeks before you tell people of changes to the traffic light system - not two days when it can cost people a lot of money".
Peter also says that people haven't been 'flocking back' to make bookings: "I got back from Greece about 10 days ago and the number of Brits there is minimal.
"People have got to know where they are, and for even places like Barbados where it's opened up quite well most of the islands are on green watch lists; when you arrive you worry that they'll change the category again before you fly back.
"Hopefully the green list will be extended and clarification on isolation will be made clear. It's all about giving confidence back in the travel industry".