That was Abta chief Mark Tanzer’s question for government following Friday’s 14-day quarantine confirmation, on the same day Shearings parent Specialist Leisure Group collapsed into administration. 

"Shearings, a well-known and much-loved UK travel company, has been pushed into bankruptcy as a result of the coronavirus crisis, leading to 2,500 job losses across the group of companies,” said Tanzer.   

“We have also now heard the government set out its plans to apply a blanket quarantine to travellers returning to the UK, with no indication of control measures to mitigate the impact of this, or of how it will end.  

“I’d therefore like to repeat my questions to the government: What is the plan for the future? What is the wider thinking and strategy? What are the positive measures you will put in place, now, to help a sector that supports 500,000 jobs in the UK?  

“We desperately need to know how the government intends to support the travel sector through this crisis, otherwise we will see many more job losses.”