‘No foreign travel until late summer,’ says Neil Ferguson

Imperial College professor says: ‘We should be planning on summer holidays in the UK, not overseas’

Welcome sight: Spain is to end its ban on most British visitors on 30 March, but UK travellers remain barred from leaving for Barcelona or elsewhere abroad (Simon Calder)

The Imperial College professor who advised the government in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic has called for overseas holidays to be banned until late summer.

Neil Ferguson told The World at One on BBC Radio: “Conservatively and being risk averse at the moment, I think we should be planning on summer holidays in the UK, not overseas.”

A year on from the start of lockdown, he said the high level of Covid cases in Europe increased the risk of additional new variants – and urged the government to relax international travel restrictions more slowly than controls within the UK.

“Just because there is a large epidemic in Europe does not inevitably mean we will have a large epidemic here,” Prof Ferguson said.

“What determines whether we have transmission here is how immune the population is, how much we’ve rolled out vaccines and the remaining social distancing measures, controls in place.”

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At present all non-essential international travel from the UK is banned, with £5,000 fixed penalties threatened for people in England who go to an airport intending to fly away on holiday.

The government’s Global Travel Taskforce will report on 12 April about possible arrangements for reopening international travel no earlier than 17 May.

But Prof Ferguson said it would be too risky to allow foreign holidays until much later in the year.

“It means having finished, in my view, vaccinating everybody under 50 which will be late summer, and having vaccines in our stockpile which we know work very effectively against those variants,” he said.

The epidemiologist’s advice led to the first lockdown a year ago. In May 2020 he resigned as a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) after it was revealed that he had met up with a woman in an apparent breach of lockdown rules.

Professor Ferguson is still listed as a member of Sage.

His comments have led to fury and frustration within the travel industry.

Paul Goldstein, co-owner of Kicheche Safari Camps in Kenya, said: “These scientists are tasked with scaremongering in the hope that people may forget about the government’s appalling mishandling of Covid.

“Millions of people connected with travel at home and abroad are being thrust into penury by these ill-thought-out conservative prophecies, as well as red lists and quarantine.

“There are countless countries only lightly touched by Covid who welcome tested or vaccinated UK visitors. They should not be penalised.”

Another advocate of opening up international travel, Paul Charles, said: “Science can inform the economics but the prime minister needs to find a way of balancing public health with mental health.

“People are craving to see their families overseas or their fiancees or other significant relatives. Travel is not just about holidays and it’s vital for travel to restart on 17 May safely and responsibly.”

Mr Charles, chief executive of the travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: “If I’ve been jabbed twice, why shouldn’t I then be able to go and see someone in America who’s also been jabbed twice?

“We are yearning to see the leadership provided by the UK vaccine teams replicated in our travel and transport sector, and that should be on or before 12 April.”

Steve Heapy, chief executive of Jet2 Holidays said: “From the demand that we are continuing to see, one thing remains abundantly clear – our customers very much want to get away on their holidays this summer and beyond.

“As the summer approaches, customers are looking forward to clarity about how they can get away on their much-needed holidays, which they have waited a long time for.”

Jet2, as well as its larger rival Tui, is planning to resume operations on 17 May.