The boss of a leading agency sent a Christmas e-card to the transport secretary to highlight how expensive and prohibitive the tests are.
The Travel Village Group's owner Phil Nuttall sent a card to the wise men that said, "It has cost them a fortune in tests but eventually they arrived in Bethlehem."
Nuttall wrote in the card that Shapps' Christmas will be better than his and his friends'. Love from all travel agents.
When agents and operators don't know what Covid testing requirements will be in January, he wondered if the trade should continue planning for peaks. On December 18 the government is going to review Covid measures. A review of the travel rules is expected in the new year.
Nuttall told Travel Weekly that the government has not learned anything from the conversations they are having with tour operators.
We are in a situation where the government is not going to tell us anything for two weeks, so what do we do with the marketing millions? They have no idea of the industry. It is blatant disregard and arrogance.
He said that talking directly with the government wouldn't help the trade.
A family of four who booked through his business have to pay a fee to cover their Covid tests ahead of their trip to Iceland.
Nuttall said that the message was "PCR tests are expensive and prohibitive".
The government was criticized for not preparing for variant of concern.
