Freedom Day has arrived…
After almost 17 months of lockdowns & social restrictions, the UK is finally opening up again on 19 Jul, back to pre-Covid days we once knew (almost).
I say almost, as things aren’t quite the same as they were back in early 2020 and many will say, will never be.
Whilst being thousands of miles apart, the one similarity of both the UK & Australia is that both our societies are divided.
One side is the private sector, where your livelihood depends on society & borders being open.
The other side is if you’re either in the public service, health, teaching, media sectors etc where your income isn’t affected (or is even enhanced).
I’m not suggesting that public servants want a lockdown, they are probably just like all of us, have family and friends abroad that they would desperately like to visit.
It just doesn’t seem fair that one sector of the community is struggling more than others, especially politicians and bureaucrats who are on full pay.
Simple analogy – as the enemy is dropping bombs over London, Sydney, Melbourne etc it was pure luck or fate if you survived or were injured (as was the case in WW2 in London) then YES, you can then say “we’re all in this together”.
The next day, all of the people would be out on the streets helping clean up the rubble and helping the injured.
Not so the case with where we’re at today, in our generational version of war with an invisible virus enemy.
When the British PM Boris Johnson announced early in the month that on 19 Jul restrictions were to be lifted and personal responsibility bestowed on the individual and not government coupled with lifting the 10 day quarantine for double jabbers from ‘amber’ countries, the travel industry couldn’t quite believe it.
There were protests leading up to the announcement, including industry walkouts and threats of class action litigation.
And that only got worse when daily COVID cases continued to climb, now hitting 50,000.
This was in the same week of packed crowds at Wimbledon and the Euro Football final with England playing – it was a surreal moment indeed.
As an Aussie, I was just lapping up all the sporting euphoria, and was also lucky enough to experience the British Grand Prix last weekend with 140,000 people attending.
“Make the most of it while it lasts,” some are saying, and even “we’ll be in another lockdown in Sep”.
In the UK, there has definitely been a shift from focusing on daily cases to now reporting on hospitalisations and deaths, as you would normally associate with a flu season.
This would probably not be the case if there wasn’t the level of vaccinations in the UK.
With 82 million doses already given and 36 million people fully vaccinated, this has been the backbone of the decision.
I know quite a lot of people who have caught the virus – including myself. In my case it was nasty and intense with a continuous fever – mainly over the following three to four days.
In summary, it was a strong flu and most get over it.
Regardless if you’re vaccinated, you can still catch it.
With the UK legal requirement of wearing masks now gone, hence begins the new societal divide on masking: The maskers versus the non-maskers.
Let’s see where this goes…
Only time will tell whether Boris’ courageous decision is a defining “Churchill moment” or a powder keg.
From a travel industry perspective, it was encouraging news through the traffic light system on the lifting of the mandatory 10-day quarantine from amber countries of pax who have been double jabbed.
However, it continues to be overshadowed by lingering testing costs associated now with all travel, where you have the situation of a 40 return airfare to say Majorca, Spain but with a 100 PCR test cost.
Some pax are still hesitant on short-haul travel (especially families) with these new costs, in addition to the ever-changing rules on the traffic light system.
Small steps in the right direction, but still a long way to an ideal place where the travel industry would like to be.
A silver lining within the madness is with the constant changing of travel regulations between borders and the need of ongoing support, there’s emerged a new reliance of the travel agent to navigate the customer with their myriad of global border movements and booking needs.
That famous line from AFTA “without a travel agent you’re on your own” resonates well, and you can only imagine what it’s going to be like when travel finally opens up in Australia.
Finally, I simply can’t resist sharing an observation from abroad.
The Australian media has gone rogue, salivating with their live crosses to multiple reporters in multiple cities, the continual fear mongering for views and clicks.
The daily press conferences from State Premiers and CHOs — there’s got to be a better way.
There needs to be a united national stance first instead of state first.
It’s un-Australian…
Remember the good old days of Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and John Howard, leaders with conviction and courage… I’m sure they’d have a proper national plan by now.
Strength to my colleagues and friends in Australia dealing with lockdowns, stay strong, this nightmare will hopefully end soon…
JOE Karbo is COO of UK-based Moresand Group, one of the country’s largest independently owned travel businesses.
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