The boss of a UK travel management company has called on the British government to offer better guidance to business travellers ahead of Brexit.

Maria Baty, managing director of Altour UK, said, ¡°Brexit is little more than three weeks away and the UK government has to take action to ensure the smooth restart of business travel or we risk falling well behind our European counterparts.
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¡°Enabling business travel across all industries will be a key driver of the economy and the UK Government should engage with stakeholders within our sectors to help shape clear and practical guidance to reopen travel by the New Year.¡±

Baty also said that the recent announcement of an exemption from quarantine for high-value business travellers did not go far enough.

She said, ¡°For most businesses, the reality is that any trip required to be undertaken right now is business critical. In the current climate, every decision and every deal will play vital roles in contributing towards the business in question¡¯s future sustainability and profitability.
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¡°A face-to-face meeting might not exclusively generate 50-plus jobs in that moment in time but could be a crucial turning point for business growth at a later period and I urge the transport minister to consider how they could extend the guidance to cover a wider range of reasons to travel.
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¡°It is important to note that, unlike as is described in the guidance, it is not always the senior executives that are driving high-value or essential trade through business travel; equally, there are hundreds of smaller businesses that significantly contribute to the UK economy and a number of these companies rely on overseas travel to conduct their business.
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¡°If the guidance was extended to cover all essential business trips, you would see a high compliance rate and businesses making responsible choices about travel. In the current climate, as well as feeling cautious about employee welfare, the vast majority of businesses could only afford to approve essential trips overseas. Businesses are absolutely committed to making responsible decisions, particularly when those decisions involve their employees." ?