Transport secretary Grant Shapps chaired the first meeting of the new taskforce on Tuesday (2 March), which the DfT said was attended by several government departments, along with "industry bodies, transport operators and travel agencies".
However, no independent travel agencies feature on a full list of attendees supplied to TTG by the DfT.
The list, broken down by government department and mode of transport, comprises 31 businesses, organisations and industry bodies, largely representing travel operators rather than travel sellers, with Tui the only recognisable "agent" listed.
TTG has asked the DfT to confirm the actual composition of the taskforce after its earlier incarnation comprised just 12 government departments, bodies and taskforces, with no actual representation from travel industry stakeholders.
The list is also broadly representative, though, of the stakeholders consulted by the taskforce last year, with 27 of Tuesday’s meeting’s 31 attendees having contributed to the taskforce’s November 2020 report, which laid the foundations for the government’s test to release scheme.
The full list of attendees at Tuesday’s meeting ran:
- Aviation: Airport Operators Association; Airlines UK; Nats; Iata; Heathrow; Gatwick; Manchester Airports Group; CAA; Edinburgh Airport; Tui; IAG; easyJet; Virgin Atlantic; Bar UK; dnata; Jet2.com
- Maritime: UK Chamber of Shipping; Clia; MSC Group; Brittany Ferries; P&O Ferries; British Ports Association; DFDS; Royal Caribbean; Carnival; Viking Cruises
- International rail: Eurostar; Eurotunnel
- Industry bodies: VisitBritain; UKinbound; UKHospitality
A DfT spokesperson told TTG: "Further engagement will continue throughout the process."
The taskforce will report to government by 12 April with a plan for restarting international travel in a safe and sustainable way. This will happen no earlier than 17 May.
The work of the taskforce will "take place in parallel and be closely integrated" with a review of "Covid-status certification" being led by chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove.
The DfT said a decision on when international travel can resume would depend on four factors: the domestic and global epidemiological situation; the emergence, location and prevalence of variants of concern; the progress of the UK’s vaccine roll-out and programmes overseas; and new data on the efficacy of the vaccines currently being deployed on variants, transmission, hospitalisation and death.
Separately on Tuesday, members of Abta’s Save Future Travel coalition, including the Advantage Travel Partnership and UKinbound, as well as members of the newly formed Travel Industry Alliance, presented to a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Future of Aviation on travel and tourism.
https://twitter.com/aviationfutgrp/status/1366730565848866818
The meeting was chaired by Gatwick MP Henry Smith and attended by 30 parliamentarians, including chair of the transport select committee Huw Merriman.
