Don’t blame the beleaguered travel industry for this week’s chaos

It’s a tale as old as time: the long Easter weekend approaches, and travel chaos descends. It was like this even before the pandemic. As families scrambled to head off for the bank holiday on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, rail and road bosses up and down the land would decide it was the perfect juncture to do large-scale engineering works, creating a heady mix of traffic jams, queues, packed train carriages and rail replacement bus services.

Then, for two years, we were insulated against such woes; domestic Covid restrictions meant the big Easter getaway shut down completely. But this year it was back in force with a new twist: added to the usual transport strife, UK airports buckled under the pressure of their highest numbers of travellers since the pandemic began; airlines cancelled dozens of flights in response to staff sickness, and ferry passengers were left high and, quite literally, dry, as P&O Ferries failed to restart its Dover-Calais service and competitor DFDS announced there was no room at the inn.

Covering this chaos for the past fortnight, I saw myriad accounts of frustrated holidaymakers who’d been let down, with some missing flights abroad due to hours-long airport security queues. I sympathise; I understand their disappointment that swiftly hardened into anger. I have also seen a lot of fingerpointing, even from government ministers, with bystanders blaming the travel and aviation industries for their failure to prepare for the sudden and dramatic scaling up of demand.

For the first time since March 2020, travel restrictions here and internationally have been relaxed to the point where there are several destinations Brits can visit with no need to test, quarantine or even show proof of vaccination. This rapid reopening of the world, coinciding with the Easter holidays, saw a surge in bookings from travellers desperate to finally enjoy a stress-free break or visit loved ones without onerous red tape.

This, I do not agree with – the fingerpointing, that is. While I feel for stranded passengers, the beleaguered travel industry has desperately clung on for the last two years, with little in the way of government support, forced to axe swathes of staff while revenue streams dried up to little more than a trickle.

Meanwhile, the government could have scarcely made it harder for the sector to bounce back. From making all international travel illegal to the ill-fated “travel corridors” scheme, and hotel quarantine to the tri-weekly meltdown caused by the traffic light system, just as companies had adjusted to the latest set of rules, the rug was pulled out from under them once more.

The sheer number of changes and complexity of the guidance made it impossible for airlines, tour operators, travel agents and the rest to revive their businesses. This week, Grant Shapps said the government had told airports and operators to “gear up” for the reopening of travel, and that it clearly hadn’t happened on a big-enough scale.

Well, an “I told you so” from the transport secretary feels a bit rich, to put it mildly. This is the same Grant Shapps who created nonsensical policies such as the “amber plus” category, when, for no discernible reason, vaccinated travellers arriving from France last year suddenly had to self-isolate. The same Grant Shapps who created conditions that ensured a measured, steady recovery was nigh-on impossible for an entire industry.

So yes, I do sympathise with thwarted travellers. But I also sympathise with a sector doing its best to rebuild while still battered and bruised from the most challenging period seen in a generation. The UK’s travel industry has long been one of the most varied and competitive in the world – and I have no doubt it will be again. We just have to be patient.

Yours,

Helen Coffey

Travel editor