Lewis said he believed effectively closing the UK’s border would have “no serious impact on the long-term future” of the travel sector, providing the measure was “done and dusted by the end of February and by the time the vaccine is rolled out [to most vulnerable people].”
He warned any potential delay, or a lack of strategy would be hugely damaging.
“What we can’t have is if [hotel quarantine] stays in place while the bureaucracy isn’t ready for a roadmap out of the crisis.
“What we’re shouting at government for is a roadmap. We’ll support you on your decisions to protect public health right now but we need a roadmap and to know restrictions won’t just linger.
"Every day of every week of every month when you don’t know when you’ll come out the other side is going to have businesses close down, people lose jobs and have a direct impact on our industry."
Lewis said he believed despite “government’s priorities not being the travel industry’s priorities”, Westminster had enough skills and resources within the relevant departments to forge an effective policy to restart travel.
“It’s about implementing a proper roadmap – not being pushed into PR stunts for the sake of telling a story. That is the worry, it’s about the speed of getting that [roadmap] delivered.
“Our responsibility as an industry is to keep on shouting about the most important thing. We have got the avenues into getting those arguments across, so it is fingers crossed about whether we can get those decisions.”
He stressed how travel firms were sitting on “huge order books” of bookings for later in 2021 and into 2022.
“That will be enough for a lot of businesses to get through to next year and we also know demand will come back incredibly quickly when the world feels normal and safe again.”
Lewis said TTNG members were being urged to “plan for the worst and hope for the best”.
“Government needs to remember the support schemes have been based around the movement of people and when they can’t leave their homes and work – and our industry hasn’t been able to properly work since March but the schemes aren’t built for that.
“That’s why we need specific sector support that recognises we’ve got huge pent-up demand – don’t let us fail without a roadmap to come out the other side.”
