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Businesses in the UK registered to the ‘We’re Good To Go’ scheme can now be automatically issued with the international ‘Safe Travels’ stamp from the World Travel & Tourism Council. More

While the UK travel sector has been widely supportive of plans to life Covid-19 restrictions, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has warned the process may take too long.
Prime minister, Boris Johnson, unveiled the plans on Monday, with a global travel taskforce to report on the reopening of travel on April 12th.
The government would then decide on removing restrictions on international travel.
However, this would not happen until May 17th at the earliest.
While some businesses have already reported a surge in bookings, WTTC chief executive Gloria Guevara said delays could prove costly.

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She explained: “While we welcome the incredible progress the UK government has made on the vaccine rollout programme, delaying the return of international travel until at least mid-May, could mean the tourism sector simply will not survive and struggling small- and medium-sized enterprises will just disappear.
“The sector was banking its hopes on a quicker return to international travel, so there will be widespread dismay at this news.
“Its return is crucial if the UK economy is to recover from the ravages of the pandemic, given the sector generates £200 billion to the GDP of the United Kingdom and supports almost four million jobs.”
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American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) has appointed Jason Geall as senior vice president for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.
He will take up the post immediately.
In this newly created role, Geall will expand his current responsibilities for the UK and Northern Europe to oversee the entire EMEA commercial operation.
Geall will continue to report to Andrew Crawley, chief commercial officer.

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As part of this new team structure, GBT has appointed Yorick Charveriat as vice president and general manager for France, and will be recruiting a vice president and general manager for the UK.
Before joining GBT more than five years ago, Geall was chief executive of online platform the Student Room Group.
Prior to that he held senior leadership roles in travel and technology companies including GetThere and Eurostar.
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The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has sent an open letter to UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, urging him to support its recovery plan for the travel sector.
It comes ahead of an expected announcement on Monday about a roadmap out of lockdown and for lifting restrictions.
The WTTC letter lays out four key principles needed to safely restore international mobility.
Firstly, an international coordinated approach led by the UK with public and private collaboration, to establish an international mobility framework which allows for the safe movement of people and removes restrictions such as blanket and hotel quarantines.
Secondly, it urges the UK government to move from risk assessments based on countries to risk based on individual travellers; thirdly, to reinforce health and hygiene protocols including mandatory mask wearing, in addition to the vaccination rollout; and fourthly, to provide a major government support package for the tourism sector.

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Following extensive consultation with WTTC members and governments around the world, WTTC also made clear there was strong and determined opposition to air corridors and that the UK could be in danger of ‘burning bridges’ with overseas governments looking to agree trade and other deals in the post-Brexit era, putting the UK at a competitive disadvantage.
Gloria Guevara, WTTC chief executive, said: “While we applaud the government’s incredible progress on the rollout of vaccines to combat the virus, the tourism sector is still massively exposed to the terrible impact of anti-Covid-19 travel restrictions.
“That is why we are calling on the UK government to take urgent action to support the sector, without which we fear tourism in the UK could face complete collapse.
“We have laid out a pathway using four clear principles for the government to navigate the tourism sector out the lockdown, and back to powering the UK economic revival.
“Our members and overseas governments believe that air corridors should not be reinstated, as they could put in jeopardy relationships with overseas governments who are looking to agree trade and other deals in the post-Brexit period.”
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Oasis Overland has ceased operations in the wake of the Covid-19 shutdown of travel.
The company specialised in small group expeditions by truck across Africa and other key overland destinations worldwide such as South America and Central Asia, alongside hotel-based trips in Pakistan, Bolivia, Peru and south-east Asia.
The news was reported by AITO.
Martyn Sumners, executive director of AITO, said: “Chris Wrede and his team had been in business since 1998 – more than 22 years – and joined AITO in 2008, just over 12 years ago.
“He was a valued member of the AITO family and will be much missed.”

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Oasis Overland had just launched a new and exciting 93-day long trip by truck through Africa, from Nairobi to Johannesburg, but Covid-19 restrictions as a result of the South African variant of the virus meant that it has now had to admit defeat.
Wrede said: “We are devastated to be unable to continue to trade.
“The past 11 months have been extremely tough, and the outlook is very bleak for our type of adventure until the world is clear of Covid-19.
“We are very sorry that we could not deliver our adventures as promised, and our thoughts go out to all our clients, loyal UK staff, leaders, drivers and the many local people and businesses around the world that were the bedrock of our adventures.”
Details of how to claim refunds from Oasis Overland are available here.
Other AITO members to ceased trading earlier in the pandemic include Cities Direct, based in Cheltenham, and London-based Tucan Travel.
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TUI Group has reported first quarter revenue for 2021 of just €468.1 million, down from €3.85 billion a year ago.
Due to travel restrictions around the world, the hospitality giant also saw losses of €699 million on an adjusted basis for the first three months of the year, compared to a loss of €147 million last year.
However, the rollout of vaccines in the UK and across Europe has begun to boost confidence ahead of the summer.
TUI said customer demand for summer 2021 was strong despite major uncertainties, with 2.8 million bookings already made, with average prices up 20 per cent compared to summer 2019.
The company said it was planning to operate around 80 per cent of the summer 2019 programme.
Fritz Joussen, chief executive of TUI Group, said: “As expected, customers will book their summer holidays much later this year than in normal years.
“However, demand remains strong, people want to travel – this is shown by the already good number of bookings for the summer.
“A look at the historically high savings rate in the EU also underlines that the scope for consumer spending is high.

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“The significant increase in spending on booked travel reflects this very clearly.
“Holidaymakers are catching up and are willing to pay more for their holidays.
“For tourism, but also for hospitality and cultural enterprises, this trend is a good signal.
“The market and customers are in the starting blocks; the demand is there. Everyone is waiting to earn their own income from the business again.”
Joussen added that the quick pace of vaccinations against Covid-19 in the UK could see travellers return to market earlier.
He continued: “Great Britain is economically a very important and large market for TUI.
“There, the vaccination campaign is progressing very rapidly; according to current plans, all Britons over 50 years of age are to receive a vaccination offer by the beginning of May.
“By mid-July, 75 per cent of the population there should have been vaccinated, so that herd immunity is achieved.
“This will have an immediate impact on the booking and travel behaviour of Britons for the summer of 2021.
“It also gives hope that the other European countries important to TUI will also be able to accelerate their vaccination strategies.
“In the transition period, rapid tests can play an important role, especially in tourism.
“We should use these opportunities wherever possible for the sake of the many millions of employees in the European tourism sector and the travellers.
“With uniform and reliable regulations on rapid tests, we can leave quarantine obligations and closed borders behind us.
“Rapid testing instead of quarantine is a demand of the travel industry, to which TUI also adheres.”
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