End ‘fear factor’ around foreign travel, SPAA chief urges

The “fear factor” around international travel must stop, the head of the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association has urged.

SPAA president Joanne Dooey appealed to the Scottish and UK governments to support a return to international travel at the association’s centenary dinner in Glasgow last night (Thursday).

The 100th anniversary dinner was originally scheduled for February but was delayed due to the pandemic.

Dooey told an audience of 200: “We need to see a return to international flying. The fear factor driven by people in power now needs to stop.

“We need to get Scotland back to business with safety protocols in place which are simple, and more importantly do not cost a fortune, to allow our industry to get back to some normality.

“We need to remove complexity and bring in simplicity with clear consistent communication and processes to support travel and not to hinder it or prevent it.”

The SPAA president told Travel Weekly ahead of that she expects international travel rules to be eased when ministers review the much-criticised traffic light system this month.

The association has been lobbying for Scots being demonising for going on holiday to cease, and for the Scottish government to get behind an industry which supports 26,000 jobs in Scotland and brings £1.466 billion to the economy annually.

Dooey added: “We need to trust in the vaccine and allow freedom of movement.”

A recent SPAA survey revealed that a third of members have taken a second job since March 2020 to help their businesses survive and 7% of these members had taken more than three jobs.

Almost 70% of travel agency owners surveyed have personally had virtually no income since the start of the pandemic.

The topics of Air Passenger Duty, Atol review and airline insolvency will remain high on the SPAA’s agenda.