The emotional and economic damage caused by incoherent anti-travel policies increases by the day

Families are waiting to be reunited and the travel industry is clinging on for dear life, writes Simon Calder, while the rest of us are yearning for an escape from the narrow lives we’ve been forced to endure

International leisure travel may be possible six weeks from now, from England at least (AP)

After almost three months, writing the following sentence has become almost muscle memory: “It is illegal to travel abroad for non-essential purposes.”

Even turning up at an airport and hoping to travel abroad – whether on holiday or to see a loved one – is punishable with a £5,000 fixed penalty.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the rule against overseas leisure travel is being swerved by several thousand people each day. Many of them deploy the so-called Stanley Johnson defence: the clause in the law that allows travel without formality for the purposes of attending to essential work in a second home – or even visiting an estate agent abroad.

But the vast majority of us have been stuck at home, watching the validity of our passports erode at the about the same rate as our hopes diminish of ever getting out of the country again.

Yet international leisure travel may be possible six weeks from now, from England at least. On Easter Monday I will be listening attentively as the prime minister sets out a framework for resuming trips abroad – and easing the current draconian restrictions on returning to the UK.

A reminder of what is at stake: the emotional wellbeing of people who have been separated from families or partners for over a year; the increasing yearning for an escape from the narrow lives we have been forced to endure so far in 2021; and the survival of what remains of the travel industry, both outbound and inbound.

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Throughout the pandemic, those parameters have been way down the government’s list of concerns. The Labour Party has been arguing for even tougher rules on movements in or out of the country.

I presume focus groups have informed politicians of the undoubted popularity of tight restrictions, even when they make little sense; a traveller arriving from Australia, where Covid is almost non-existent, who spends an hour in transit at Dubai airport, must pay £1,750 for 11 nights in hotel quarantine.

The government and opposition may be united in their distaste for British citizens going abroad, but incoherent anti-travel policies are not cost-free. The emotional and economic damage they cause increases by the day. If politicians are not fully aware of the consequences of their actions, I will do my best to remind them.

Yours,

Simon Calder

Travel correspondent