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UK govt doing ‘everything we can’ to ensure people get summer holiday – minister

The British government is doing “everything we can” to ensure the public can get a summer vacation this year but…

By financial2020myday , in Economy , at February 11, 2021

The British government is doing “everything we can” to ensure the public can get a summer vacation this year but cannot yet say whether people should book ahead, health minister Matt Hancock said on Thursday.

Underlining the wait-and-see attitude, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said the British leader had no holiday plans for the summer, again urging people to wait until the week of Feb. 22 when the government will set out its roadmap for easing restrictions.

Ministers have faced criticism, including from members of Johnson’s Conservative Party, about giving out mixed messages on holidays, with earlier optimism that restrictions should be eased by then replaced by growing caution.

On Wednesday, transport minister Grant Shapps said people should not book vacations either domestically or abroad until more was known about the vaccination programme’s success.

“I do understand the yearning for certainty, but certainty is hard in a pandemic. We are doing everything we can to make sure people can have that holiday in the summer,” Hancock, who said he had booked a vacation in southwest England, told Sky News.

He said people “really get that” there was uncertainty following the problems caused by the pandemic over the last year and needed to be patient.

“I think that we’ve all been talking in exactly the same terms that there is uncertainty but we want to bring an end to that uncertainty and of course it is the vaccine programme that is our route out of this,” Hancock said.

So far, Britain has given a first vaccine shot to more than 13 million people and is also bringing in new strict border controls, which make it illegal to go on holiday, to prevent new strains of the virus entering the country.

Airlines and travel companies have called for clarity and a clear route map out of restrictions, fearing for their survival if there is no recovery this summer following close to a year with minimal revenues.

Before the pandemic, Britain had a thriving aviation sector. Air transport and related supply chain activity plus tourist arrivals supported 1.6 million jobs and accounted for 4.5% of UK GDP, according to an IATA study.

Heathrow Airport, Britain’s busiest, said on Thursday passenger numbers had plunged 89% in January compared to the same month last year.

John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow’s chief executive, warned more jobs in the industry would be at risk if the government does not set out its plans for unwinding restrictions. More than 45,000 jobs have already been lost in the sector.

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