Travel restrictions are back in action as the omicron variant continues to haunt the world with the surging covid-19 cases across the globe.
It seems like the Christmas festivity will be tarnished yet again as the already struggling tourism and travel industry will have to undergo restrictions against it in this holiday season.
New travel restrictions are being aimed to curb the spread of the omicron variant of coronavirus as the gloomy side of the pandemic starts lurking again. Travelers have started to rearrange or postpone their trips as the rules and restrictions started to be stricken across the world.
Even though there is not much data available for the new variant, the increasing information showcases that the newly detected variant can spread more easily and more rapidly.
The researchers are trying to figure out how severe it will be and how well the vaccines will work against this variant as that is still uncertain.
The Advantage Travel Group, one of the leading travel groups of the U.K have stated that their business is already suffering.
“The business has already fallen by 40% in mid-December as compared to a month earlier. Those numbers, including flights, cruise bookings, and package holidays, add to the travel industry’s existing slump, which had already seen business fall by two-thirds since the pandemic began” stated Julia Lo Bue, the CEO of The Advantage Travel Group.
“Our members are dealing with customers who are really nervous about traveling now,” she said. “They’re really nervous about bookings for the New Year because they fear that there’s a risk that the government will make more knee-jerk reactions.”
“The government has recognized the plight of the U.K. hospitality sector, with trade down by 40% in December,” chief executive Mark Tanzer said. “But at the same time, the travel industry, where income has been down by 78% this year, and further impacted by omicron restrictions since late November, continues to be ignored.”
The world is currently experiencing the most dramatic surges of the coronavirus pandemic while it undergoes a major blow of closing down restaurants and pubs in the holiday season of Christmas.
