It's been a busy week for the travel industry.

Hitchin Nub News is proud to feature renowned travel expert and travel agent Susan Downie from the highly-acclaimed Mondial Travel in our town.

Amid cabinet rifts over plans to relax holiday restrictions, many in the industry are calling for the government to ease travel restrictions to tourist hotspots in a bid to help save the summer holiday season and boost the travel industry.

Plans to grant extra freedoms to people who have received both doses of their Covid vaccine could lead to the widespread scrapping of scrap self-isolation rules for Britons returning from certain countries.

However, European leaders immediately indicated they would tighten their own border restrictions to halt the UK's surge in Delta variant Covid cases across the UK reaching their shores.

So, read on for Susan's expert take on the industry as she reflects on a hectic seven days in travel.

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It's been a busy week for the travel industry.

First came the Travel Day of Action last Wednesday (June 23) when the travel sector came together to highlight the plight of the industry at Westminster.

As one of the travel industry leaders said, travel was one of the first sectors to be hit by the effects of the pandemic and it is going to be last out.

It's for that reason that the travel industry is campaigning for special support from the government, without which many businesses will fail.

Following the Travel Day of Action came the long-awaited update to the 'Green List' on Thursday (June 24) when a further 16 destinations were added to the list of places UK travellers are now able to travel to without having to quarantine on their return.

These new 'Green List' destinations included Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, the Balearic Islands, Barbados, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Madeira, Malta, Montserrat, the Pitcairn Islands and the Turks & Caicos Islands.

So all's well again within the travel industry? Well, not exactly…

Firstly, a new green 'watchlist' has been introduced and all but one of the new destinations on the list – Malta - are on the watchlist.

The watchlist means that these destinations could be moved back to the Amber list at short notice.

If they do, travellers would be required to quarantine on return.

This does little to boost travellers' confidence, particularly following the situation with Portugal, which went onto the Green list on May 17 and then moved back to the Amber list just three weeks later with less than five days' notice, forcing many travellers to scramble to rearrange their holidays and return to the UK before they had to quarantine.

For many in the travel industry, these measures are far too little, too late as it's considered that the very limited re-opening of travel is not following the scientific evidence.

It's also unclear why other countries such as the USA, which are seen as low risk, are not on the Green list.

It's understandable that questions are raised about the government's priorities when we hear that Wembley will be hosting 60,000 fans and around 2,500 overseas UEFA officials for the Euro 2020 semi-finals and final and that the overseas officials will not have to quarantine on arrival, as required for all other travellers.

Many struggling travel companies who need to see a strong summer to survive feel that time is running out as they have had little or no income for 15 months and have also lost income with every refunded booking.

The hope is that the situation will improve at the next review in around three weeks, giving customers a confidence boost ahead of the school holidays.

Now, more than ever, is the time to get behind local businesses.

Use the knowledge and expertise of your local travel agent.

We will guide you through the minefield of traffic light systems and Covid tests required.

Here's to a summer – and beyond - of happy holidays!

For more information visit Mondial Travel here