Quash Quarantine, representing 500 travel and hospitality companies, said in a statement today it had been told privately that travel corridors, a means of allowing quarantine-free trips, would be in place later this month.
Government ministers have publicly said they are considering travel corridors, or so-called “air bridges” with countries with low infection rates, but there have not been any formal deals so far.
Airlines want the quarantine rule scrapped altogether. British Airways has teamed up with low-cost rivals Ryanair and easyJet with a plan to launch legal action to try to overturn it.
Quash Quarantine said it had not ruled out pursuing legal action itself.
“We are still considering our options regarding legal action, including whether to join BA’s claim or launch our own action, but would prefer that June 29 is confirmed as soon as possible for the start of travel corridors,” Quash Quarantine’s spokesman Paul Charles said.
Popular holiday destinations for British tourists include Portugal, Spain, France, Greece and Italy.
An air bridge – also known as a ‘travel corridor’ – is a way of allowing tourists from two countries to travel between the destinations without needing to quarantine for 14 days on arrival.
The idea is that the air bridges would enable people from areas which have low transmission rates of Covid-19 to travel between countries without having to self-isolate. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has explained that the bridges would ‘enable people from other areas who have themselves achieved lower levels of growth virus infection to come into the country’.