Grant Shapps, the UK's Transport Minister is failing the British people and the UK travel industry.

On 7 May, Grant Shapps said: "travel will restart from 17 May...bringing long-awaited relief to hard-hit airlines, airports and the tourism sector" 

Fast forward to today, 3 June: after the planned removal of Portugal, only 1 DESTINATION now on the green list is accessible & accepting Brits who are not vaccinated: Gibraltar. 

So why is the government continuing with 'project fear' when:

• 75% of UK adults have had 1 dose of the vaccine, thanks to the NHS and community of volunteers across the country
• 50% of UK adults (as of today, 3 June) have had both doses of the vaccine
• This week saw the first day of 0 deaths in the UK
• Green list arrivals are still subject to 2 tests - 1 to return to the UK, a second PCR test on day 0 - 2
• Airports and airlines have invested huge amounts of money to adapt their practices and make it a safe & comfortable environment for passengers

Grant Shapps is no longer a competent leader. He is letting the travel industry fail.

According to a report by Airlines UK:

• A ‘lost summer’ of international travel will amount to £55.7bn in lost trade and £3.0bn in tourism GDP if reopening delayed until September – putting more than half a million jobs at risk.
• Being unable to re-open to the EU would cause the most damage, followed by the United States, with no air link to the US until September costing the UK £2.4bn (£23m per day) putting 51,600 jobs at risk
• Vaccine rollout in the UK and abroad, ever-increasing testing capability and new health certification technology can allow international travel to resume in summer 2021 and avoid costing the UK £47.6bn in GDP this year (over £200m a day) removing the risk to more than a million jobs

Families across the UK are not only craving a holiday - but also want to be reunited with their loved ones who many people have not seen in over a year. As Grant Shapps said in his own 7 May press release, we are a nation with family ties across the globe - nearly 1 in 3 new mothers in the UK was born overseas.