LOTUS CORONAVIRUS UPDATE (27.11)

Testing

TEST & RELEASE SCHEME

The government launched its new strategy on Tuesday 24 November for testing international arrivals.

From 15 December 2020, passengers arriving into England from countries not featured on the government’s travel corridor list will have the option to take a privately provided test after five days of self-isolation, with a negative result releasing them from the need to isolate. It will reduce mandatory self-isolation by at least a week.

The move is intended to give passengers the confidence to book international trips in time for Christmas, as they can return and isolate for a shorter period if they receive a negative test.

Travel industry insiders welcomed the move as a step in the right direction although ABTA’s CEO Mark Tanzer said the system must be kept under review and an aligned testing system is needed for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. EasyJet CEO Garry Wilson said that there was an urgent need for affordable testing ahead of the peaks, whilst TUI said that they would continue only to offer holidays to quarantine-free destinations and Clive Wratten from the Business Travel Association called the plan “tardy, incomplete and only a small step”. Miles Morgan said that the bigger news was the government agreement to consider rapid ‘lateral’ tests in the new year.

RAPID TESTS TO OPEN TRAVEL IN NEW YEAR

Interviewed in The Daily Telegraph Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary said he wanted to scrap quarantine entirely by replacing it with daily coronavirus tests and move to a rapid-testing regime in the New Year which would mean travellers arriving in the UK would no longer have to self-isolate.

He believed this could be achieved through daily “lateral flow” tests that are being used in mass testing pilot schemes in Liverpool and other cities and provide results within 30 minutes.

On reducing the current 14 day quarantine, he said “I also think it is a stepping stone to the next stage which is lateral flow testing so you don’t have to quarantine at all. You just test every day for a week. We know that is coming but we’re not going to get that going until the New Year and then finally there will be the vaccine to take us out of this.”

Mr Shapps cautioned that the rapid “lateral flow” tests were “not quite there” with the “specificity” required to be approved for use by the Government to sidestep quarantine but the technology was “improving” and companies were aiming for the new year to reach the “required standards.”

TRANSATLANTIC TESTING PROGRAMME

Delta Air Lines, the Aeroporti di Roma and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport have joined forces for a transatlantic COVID-19 testing programme, reports Breaking Travel News.

It is hoped the scheme will enable quarantine-free entry into Italy and that the protocols will work alongside their upgraded cleanliness and hygiene regimes.

EDINBURGH, GATWICK AND NEWCASTLE AIRPORTS PROVIDE TESTS

A private test company has opened a COVID testing centre at Edinburgh airport, offering passengers and staff subsidised PCR tests. The company will offer the service at Gatwick from Monday and Newcastle has announced a testing centre to open on 1 December.

Edinburgh and Gatwick will offer "fast and accurate" PCR swab tests, valid for travel, reports TTG and passengers will be able to get tested for £80pp, and airport staff for £60pp. Members of the general public will be able to get tested for £99pp. Test results are typically available the next day, and are sent either by email or text.

TRAVEL TASKFORCE REPORTS

The long-awaited recommendations from the UK Government’s Travel Taskforce reported on Tuesday 24 November.  

• The report outlined the importance of international travel to the UK and recognised that the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be an existential threat to many otherwise strong businesses within these sectors.
• It made 14 recommendations to ensure clear public health measures, increase demand safely and take the lead on global standards.
• It outlined the test to release scheme outlined above
• Develop a pre-departure testing proposal with partner countries on a bilateral basis Increasing demand safely
• Launch a public health information campaign to inform UK departing passengers and international visitors about travel requirements
• Deliver a system of assurance of air travel, led by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), to evidence the industry’s compliance with international guidance, helping increase consumer confidence and demonstrating the UK’s global leadership
• Deliver an effective communications campaign, alongside the CAA’s system of assurance, working with the CAA and Public Health England (PHE) to publicise the UK industry’s compliance with global health standards, to boost consumer confidence and provide reassurance to encourage UK-based residents that global aviation is open, safe and secure
• Develop a Tourism Recovery Plan setting out the transformation and growth of the sector over the next five years as part of our economic recovery
• Develop an Aviation Recovery Plan to consider the outlook for the sector in the medium term once these short-term measures have taken effect, including on ensuring sustainable economic growth and delivering on our long term aims on net zero and connectivity.

DESTINATION UPDATES

UK

End of lockdown 2.0: The Winter Plan

England’s second national lockdown will end at 00.01 on Wednesday 2 December 2020 amid suggestions that the number of COVID-19 infections in the country has levelled off during two weeks of lockdown. However, across the UK, the picture is mixed. In Wales and Northern Ireland, infections have been decreasing in recent weeks, but in Scotland, they seem to be rising.

The lockdown will be replaced by a winter plan – a three-tier system of restrictions, which will last until March 2021, by which time, it is hoped a vaccine will be available for widespread distribution.

The UK Government announced which regions will be placed under which tiers on Thursday 26 November. Just three regions were placed under Tier 1 – the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall and Isle of Wight. The majority of the country will be placed in Tier 2, including London and Liverpool, while cities such as Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester and Bristol will be under Tier 3 restrictions.

The restrictions include, but are not limited to:

Tier 1

Will now mean:

• People should continue to work from home where possible
• The rule of six will apply to socialisation both indoors and outdoors, allowing people from across households to see each other indoors, but not in groups larger than six.
• Businesses and venues can remain open, in a COVID secure manner, other than those that remain closed by law such as nightclubs.
• Hospitality businesses can be open to offer table service.
• Public attendance at outdoor and indoor events (performances and shows) and spectator sports are permitted, limited to whichever is lower: 50% capacity, or either 4,000 people outdoors or 1,000 people indoors.

Tier 2

Will now include the following regulations:

• Socialising indoors with anyone not in the same household or in the same support bubble is not allowed. The rule of six will only be allowed outdoors
• Only pubs serving meals can open
• For spectator sports, events or shows, 2,000 people are allowed outdoors or 50% of usual capacity and 1,000 people are allowed indoors.

Tier 3

Will now include the following regulations

• Hospitality will close except for delivery and takeaway
• Indoor entertainment venues must close
• Socialisation cannot happen with those not in the same household or support bubble indoors or in most outdoor settings. The rule of six applies in the others
• Accommodation such as hotels, B&Bs, campsites, and guest houses must close 
• Indoor entertainment and tourist venues must close. 
• There should be no public attendance at spectator sport or indoor performances and large business events should not be taking place. Elite sport events may continue to take place without spectators
• Large outdoor events (performances and shows) should not take place, with the exception of drive-in events
• Avoid travelling to other parts of the UK, including for overnight stays other than where necessary

Also:

• In its official documents the Government has added that domestic and international travel will be permitted again subject to guidance in each tier.
• International travel is allowed for all tiers and passengers are advised to check Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office travel advice for destination and the travel corridors list. The 14-day isolation period for international arrivals and travel corridor system will continue.
• Areas should be able to move down the scale by adhering to restrictions and the use of rapid turnaround tests.
• Tier positions will be reviewed every 14 days, and based on criteria.
• The Prime Minister and Chief Medical Officer agree that Easter is the ‘end goal’ for restrictions. Boris Johnson said it should be possible to pull back from social distancing restrictions in the spring with life returning to normal in the summer. Johnson urged people to stick with the restrictions through what will be a hard winter.
• MPs are expected to vote on the Winter Plan early during the week commencing 30 November 2020.

BUSINESS EVENTS

England’s winter plan gave business events the go ahead and will be able to resume indoors and outside with capacity limits and social distancing, providing more consistency with performances in theatres and concert halls.

Venues hosting business meetings and events will need to comply with the Meeting Industry Association’s government-approved guidelines, while larger events will need to adhere to the AEO, AEV, and ESSA’s All Secure Standard, reports M&IT.

The Meetings Industry Association (MIA), Association of Event Organisers (AEO), Association of Event Venues (AEV), and the Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA), made a joint statement: “The business events sector warmly welcomes the announcement that the sector will be able to reopen under the revised Tier system. This integrates the business events sector with sports and performing arts sectors, providing the consistency for which the associations have been fighting…Today’s news provides welcome relief to many individuals and businesses hit hard when the industry was stopped suddenly in March 2020. The associations have also welcomed initiatives such as rapid testing and the deployment of vaccines, all of which will be needed to rebuild the sector.”

However, many trade events planned for the next few months have already been planned as virtual and this week, VisitBritain announced that its flagship annual travel trade event ExploreGB will run as a virtual event between 1-5 March, 2021.

CHRISTMAS  

The devolved governments of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland issued a joint statement on Tuesday 24 November to loosen restrictions for a short time around Christmas to allow family and friends to see each other in a limited and cautious way.

• Travel restrictions across the four administrations and between tiers will be lifted to provide a window for households to come together between 23 and 27 December. This is extended to 22-28 December for Northern Ireland to allow for travel. (As a result of this announcement flight fares jumped by 600% with a Ryanair flight which was £31 increasing to £217 after the announcement. Reports of fare jumps were heard from BA and Loganair too).
• Up to three households can form an exclusive ‘bubble’ to meet at home during this period.

• Each Christmas bubble can meet at home, at a place of worship or an outdoor public place, but existing, more restrictive rules on hospitality and meeting in other venues will be maintained throughout this period.

AIR CORRIDOR UPDATES

Grant Shapps, the UK’s Transport Minister, announced that 10 long haul destinations would be added to the travel corridor for England from 4am on Saturday 28 November. These are Bhutan, Timor-Leste, Mongolia, Aruba, the following Pacific Islands: Samoa, Kiribati, Micronesia, Tonga, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. Passengers arriving back from these destinations no longer need to self-isolate.

Eastern European destinations Estonia and Latvia have been removed from the list, meaning quarantine measures will now be in place.

Denmark remains off the travel corridor list, but Shapps confirmed the total travel ban imposed on the country as a result of a different strain of COVID found there has now been removed.

EUROPE

SPAIN

Spain will begin a comprehensive coronavirus vaccination programme in January and expects to have covered a substantial part of the population within six months, prime minister Pedro Sanchez announced. Sanchez has said that his government was considering limiting Christmas celebrations to six people.

GREECE

The Greek government is getting ready to gradually begin lifting some rules and restrictions as the number of COVID-19 cases begin to stabilise. The government implemented a lockdown on 7 November and it is due to be relaxed from 7 December, with schools and non-essential retail slated to begin reopening as well as restaurants and cafes in the lead up to Christmas.

GERMANY

Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced that Germany's national lockdown will be extended for another three weeks, meaning restrictions are now due to be lifted just before Christmas.

The rules place limits on social gatherings, and restaurants, bars and gyms have been ordered to close until 20 December, although schools and most other businesses are allowed to continue operating.

However, with the number of new cases in Germany having risen rapidly in recent weeks, it is expected that the partial lockdown will be extended beyond Christmas and into January.

The German government has also has banned the traditional New Year’s Eve fireworks celebrations.

HUNGARY

Hungary has introduced restrictions on retail store visits in an effort to separate elderly shoppers and contain the coronavirus pandemic in the over-65 age group.

REST OF THE WORLD

TURKEY

The country is currently experiencing one of the world’s fastest growing coronavirus outbreaks, reports The Daily Sabah. It has published full figures of daily cases for the first time in four months this week.

USA

1. The White House is considering lifting its 8-month entry ban for non-US citizens who have recently been in Brazil, Britain, Ireland and 26 other EU countries, reports Business Insider.

Officials report that the The White House is not considering lifting its ban on non-US citizens who have recently been to China or Iran.

Currently, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advises against all non-essential travel to the United States, but the UK Government is reportedly considering a business travel corridor to kickstart travel between London and New York City.

1. Millions of Americans have travelled for the Thanksgiving holiday and disregarded warnings to stay home and limit gatherings. Numbers were, however, down on 2019.

1. COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations continue to rise in the USA.

HONG KONG

The launch of a travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore has been postponed for two weeks due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, reports Breaking Travel News.

AUSTRALIA

The Australian state of Victoria has recorded no new coronavirus cases or related deaths for 24 days following its harsh lockdown, putting official elimination of the virus in reach. New South Wales has recorded no new cases for 16 days. Australia’s death toll from the pandemic now stands at 907, with all but 88 in Victoria. South Australia, which last week became the epicentre of the country’s infections, reported no new community cases and lifted drastic lockdown earlier than planned.

CARIBBEAN

A summary of the Caribbean nations’ separate arrivals policies can be found here. With UK travel restrictions easing from 2 December, the test and release scheme open from 15 December, and many of the islands on the UK’s travel corridor list, it is thought that the Caribbean will be a key destination over the festive period. However, arrival requirements differ.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

From 29 November, the Dominican Republic will adopt a new electronic system for arrivals into the country in a move to combat the spread of COVID-19. The electronic system provides digital versions of traveller health, customs declarations and boarding forms and passengers will be required to fill out the forms through a digital portal from 1 January 2021.

SKI

Italian, French and German governments have all been seeking agreement across the Alpine region to close ski resorts until early January. However, Austria has indicated it would allow ski resorts to open at Christmas in defiance.

According to French state-owned network France 24, Macron said coronavirus risks made it "impossible" to allow winter sports to resume quickly. He said he would consult with European partners to co-ordinate start dates for the winter season and promised an update in 10 days.

Macron said to plan for a re-opening of the resorts in January "under favourable conditions".

France 24 reports health authorities have warned that regional hospitals could be saturated quickly if crowds of skiers from France and abroad were allowed to travel to certain regions.

Separately the French Prime Minister said that the resorts themselves could open, but the lifts would be shut.

France has 350 ski resorts employing 120,000 people during the high season.

In response, the UK’s biggest ski tour operator Crystal Ski Holidays has cancelled all its ski holidays to France in December, but said it would monitor the situation, reports TTG.

Switzerland has already opened its ski areas, and Austria, which is due to emerge from lockdown on 6 December, has pointed to the huge cost to livelihoods if they don’t open. “If the EU does in fact force skiing areas to stay closed, that will mean costs of up to €2 billion (£1.8bn). If that is what the EU really wants, it will also have to pay for it,” said Austria’s finance minister, Gernot Blumel.

The Austrian ski resort of Ischgl became a hotspot for COVID-19 infections earlier this year, with thousands of tourists catching the virus and spreading it across Europe.

Ski resorts fear economic ruin if they are not allowed to open at all. Italy’s ski resorts closed in March during the first wave of the pandemic and many people are hurting financially.

The mayor of one Alpine village that depends on skiing says local families are in such difficulty that they are struggling to buy food.

SEASONAIRES

The ski resort shutdowns also have Brexit implications for ‘seasonaires’ or British seasonal workers – as British people seeking seasonal work as chalet hosts, instructors, drivers and nannies in European ski resorts will come up against new regulations from 1 January, reports The Observer.

It was hoped that this ski season would operate largely as if the UK remained part of the EU and under the existing arrangements. UK staff who are working in the resorts before 31 December can remain in their jobs for the entirety of the 2020-21 ski season. Currently, under the EU’s “posted worker” directive, any UK company can second staff to positions in other EU member states. The staff are on UK contracts, pay UK tax and national insurance and, under existing freedom of movement rules, do not need a work permit or immigration visa.

That will end at the end of the transition period on 1 January. In the future, if a British company wants to employ British chalet staff or bar staff, they would need to get a work permit for whichever EU country they choose and adhere to the regulations of those countries. In France, they would need to prove that a French person couldn’t do the job by advertising at an unemployment office for eight weeks; then go through a minimum two- to three-month process to get a work permit; and then, once they’ve got that, the worker must apply for an immigration visa so they can enter the country.

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK HEADLINES

SPENDING REVIEW

In his spending review Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the coronavirus crisis will leave more than 2.5 million people in the UK unemployed next year. Unemployment will peak in the second quarter of 2021 at 7.5%. Although it is predicted to fall every year after that, unemployment is still due to stand at 4.4% by the end of 2024. He also warned the economy will not recover to pre-crisis levels for another two years and that underlying debt would continue to rise every year.

Sunak said the government will borrow a peacetime record of almost £400bn this year as it seeks to combat the worst recession in more than 300 years. He told MPs the UK faced an “economic emergency” that required a public sector pay freeze for millions and a cut in the overseas aid budget.

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has backed chancellor Rishi Sunak’s plans to maintain high levels of public spending during the pandemic, insisting that the government was right to support businesses and households through the lockdown. He said failure to do so would lead to “unbearable” suffering. He said it was “absolutely sensible” that public resources are being used to cushion the impact of the “absolutely unprecedented shock”, which is what the Bank and Treasury are doing.

 Average pay packets are set to decline by £1,200 per year as a result of the coronavirus crisis, according to the Resolution Foundation. In a new report, the think tank says a combination of weaker pay growth and higher unemployment will serve to prolong the squeeze on living standards. It also warned the bulk of the government's extra spending to deal with the "economic emergency" will need to come from tax rises.

AVIATION HEADLINES

FINANCIAL SUPPORT PACKAGE FOR ENGLISH AIRPORTS

Breaking Travel News has reported that the UK Government has unveiled plans for a new financial support package for English airports and ground handlers serving them.

The support, which is designed to shore up jobs and reinforce local economies, will be available to commercial airports across the country.

The system will address fixed costs and be equivalent to the business rates liabilities of each business, capped at up to £8 million per site, and subject to certain conditions. The scheme will open in the new year.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said: “The aviation industry is vital to our economy - creating jobs and driving growth - which is why we have supported them throughout this crisis through the job retention scheme, loans and tax deferrals.

“This new package of support for airports, alongside a new testing regime for international arrivals, will help the sector take off once again as we build back better from the pandemic.”

Heathrow chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, said the move was welcome, but more must be done.

Eurostar criticised the scheme and complained that they had been unfairly excluded, as they had suffered a 95% drop in demand.

AVIATION COMEBACK

Chris Haslam has written a special report for The Sunday Times on how the aviation sector will recover.

Stats:

• On 12 March 2020 Eurocontrol recorded 23,879 flights across Europe. A month later that number had fallen to 2,099
• In June, demand for air travel had dropped by 86.5%
• IATA predicts similar aircraft capacity to 2019 by 2024
• But it could be a decade before we get the connectivity of 2019
• BA flew direct to 30 North American cities, with 12 flights a day to New York in 2019. Today if flies to seven, with two flights a day to New York
• KLM has reduced long-haul frequencies by 55%

Airlines are preparing for a price war. Ryanair says “in the spring”.

EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren:

• “People are always attracted by value”
• The industry will move from survival to recovery with the development of either a vaccine or reliable testing protocol
• We need to be prepared to scale up demand
• Dropping prices to spur demand is damaging to business, but airlines who have invested in newer, more fuel-efficient planes, can afford to do this
• Currently prices in peak season for popular destinations are same price as 2019, but on less popular routes, there could be cheaper fares.

The Times says that only 20 airlines operating ten aircraft or more have gone bust in 2020. Wikipedia puts the figure of total airlines that had ceased trading or filed for the US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020 by 8 October 2020, as 43. These include Avianca, Air Mauritius, LATAM Airlines Group and LIAT.

Aviation consultancy OAG says that only one leisure route makes it onto the European top ten in the world’s busiest airline routes. Business travel drives popular routes.

From 1 July to 30 September, BA owner IAG had a daily cash burn of £26 million; Singapore Airlines, £14.6 million; and Delta £18 million. Governments have stepped in, and there has been a resurgence of nationalisation – at least in part – and a concern from the industry that protectionism will take over, especially from populist governments, although it is unclear how far governments can and will go to prop up their national carriers. Norway has already said ‘no more’ to Norwegian.

Most commentators agree that there is too much capacity in the market, which makes it hard for any carrier to make a profit.

Airlines have been upgrading the cleaning and its frequency and changing restrictions, It is likely that premium cabins will be reduced.

Airports might revolutionise their shopping experience to a ‘click and collect’ model.

CORPORATE TRAVEL UPDATE

GLOBAL BUSINESS TRAVEL ASSOCIATION (GBTA)

• Half of corporate travel managers believe their company employees are willing to travel again, according to the latest Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) poll
• 22% of managers believe corporate travellers are not willing to return to travel, and only one in 10 (9%) are “very willing”
• 60% of travel managers believe the availability of a vaccine next year would make corporate travel programmes more likely to sanction travel
• 58% said they would be interested in quarantine exemptions for some international business trips.
• The poll found three in five member companies would be ‘likely’ (44%) or ‘very likely’ (16%) to allow business travel with the prospect of a vaccine.

GLOBAL TRAVEL TASKFORCE

Under new proposals, published yesterday by the government's Global Travel Taskforce, business travellers would not be required to self-isolate if undertaking business-related activity only, reports Travelmole.

FOCUS TRAVEL PARTNERSHIP

Abby Penston, CEO of Focus Travel Partnership, the leading business travel consortium for the SME announced a new recovery steering group meeting from December at its flagship annual conference, held online this week. “There have been some very positive developments for business travel over the last couple of weeks with testing protocols being developed and the global travel taskforce recommending that business travellers are exempt from quarantine. The SME sector in the UK makes up 99% of the economy and it will drive recovery. The pandemic has proved that the worth of the responsible TMC when it comes to saving time and money and providing excellent duty of care for corporate travellers.”

REFUNDS

Despite lockdown restrictions, holidaymakers have been told that they can’t necessarily get a refund for holidays or flights that went ahead during that time. ABTA has told The Independent that consumers need to find out what other options there are from the travel providers and take deferred dates if they can. The Competition and Markets Authority also recommended speaking to travel insurance providers.

EMIRATES

The airline Emirates has cleared the backlog of refund requests that had built up since April and the airline has now repaid AED 6.3 billion (£1.3 billion) to its customers.

TRAVEL COMPANIES UPDATE

Tour operators and travel providers are reporting an increasingly optimistic picture, reports The Daily Telegraph, even though some travel industry insiders don’t really see true confidence come through until summer 2021.  

A TTG debate this week on whether COVID has cancelled peaks concluded that capacity and availability are going to be an issue in 2021. Demand is going to outstrip supply, so customers need to be encouraged to book early. Marketing ahead of the traditional peak-booking season in January will focus on consumer confidence messaging rather than big deals and offers.

However, agents say they are nervous about booking holidays for Christmas and January - it's not just consumer confidence that's low but also trade confidence. Consumer demand is there but the trade just needs to ensure the right messaging is communicated to provide consumer confidence to book now so that they don't miss out for another year.

TRAVEL AGENTS

Travel agents have found themselves in the midst of confusion as to whether they were eligible for government lockdown grants for high street retailers. Initial announcements suggested that they could operate remotely. Industry lobbying is working to ensure that all high street agents receive the same support, reports Travel Weekly.  

DISNEY

Walt Disney has announced plans to lay off 32,000 workers during the first half of 2021, mainly at its theme parks business. This represents an increase on the 28,000 layoffs the company announced in September. The company is struggling to deal with a reduced number of visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic. Theme parks in Florida, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo are open, but Disneyland Paris and its theme park in California are closed.

TRENDS & CUSTOMER SENTIMENT

WORKATIONS

Move Hub reports that year-on-year data shows an 83 per cent rise in 18 to 34-year-olds moving overseas but a 49 per cent decline in 35 to 44-year olds heading abroad, says The Times and there are also a growing number of people who are swapping their bedrooms and kitchen tables for sun, sea and sand. Travel companies are adapting their programmes to offer long-term breaks for Britons who are able to work remotely. Overseas rental companies are also reporting a surge in demand from people looking for a base to hunker down during the winter. This is in addition to destinations such as Barbados providing adapted work visas.

IN-FLIGHT COVID INFECTION IS TRAVELLERS’ BIGGEST CONCERN

Two in five air passengers remain concerned about catching COVID-19 on a flight despite assurance that flying is safe, according to a US poll of travellers, reports Travel Weekly.

The poll found concern about COVID infection while flying outweighed all other travel-related concerns, at three times the rate of concern among travellers about transport to and from the airport, six times the concern in destination and 18 times the concern at a hotel.

VACCINE WILL SPUR OLDIES TO TRAVEL

News that the older generation will be in line to be vaccinated first to combat COVID-19 is set to accelerate travel planning by over-50s, reports Travel Weekly from a Silver Travel Advisor Survey.

The findings from the first 400 respondents show how significant a role travel plays in the lives of the UK’s over-50s.

Almost three out of four older travellers – 74% – said they had most missed travelling abroad because of the pandemic.

More than a third (40%) have holidays originally booked for 2020 shifted forward into 2021.

But a further 30% have made new 2021-22 holiday bookings since the first lockdown in March, 36% in a hotel or resort and 16% on ocean cruises, the second-highest scoring option. A total of 79% of these new bookings are for overseas travel.

Financially, the over-50s remain relatively unscathed by Covid – only 7% say they have been hit hard – and 65% intend to spend as much (38%) or more (27%) on holidays in 2021 as they did in 2019.

Image

MEDIA INSIGHTS

GOOD QUALITY IMAGES NEEDED FOR EVERY STORY

Simon English, the senior correspondent for the City at the Evening Standard issued a plea this week for good quality images for EVERY story. “The growth of the web means that at many news sites, including the Evening Standard, every story now needs an image.”

The experienced LOTUS team has worked extensively with a range of high-quality photographers who can meet a range of briefs, requirements and budgets to deliver on the provision of corporate headshots, event reportage, lifestyle and food still-life and stunning landscapes that amplify engagement. In addition, LOTUS has organised a number of high-profile photography competitions, exhibitions and media awards and works with a range of image libraries. Contact hollie@wearlotus.co.uk for further details.

TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES

From 17 January 2021 the travel sections in the Times and Sunday Times will be returning to their usual standalone sections (they've been merged into Weekend and Home throughout the pandemic) and back to pre-COVID paginations). Jenny Coad, Deputy Editor of Travel for the media outlets has reported that their articles are consistently among the most read on the website at the weekend, with readers clearly thinking about and longing for travel: “We'll be giving readers more inspiration for travel in 2021 whether that's for family reunions in the UK or more ambitious trips of a lifetime.”