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Summary
- The UK government though has allowed foreign travel, it has warned against travelling to countries on the amber list.
- It has come up with a system of traffic light for foreign tours that resumed 17 May onwards.
- As the travel ban was lifted, people began flocking to countries on the amber list like Spain, the US, Greece, and France.
The government has eased a majority of the lockdown measures in the third phase, even restrictions on travel have been taken off. As travel ban was lifted, people began flocking to countries on the amber list like Spain, the US, Greece, and France. Over 150 flights have been reported to depart on Monday alone. Though the government has allowed overseas foreign travel, it has strictly warned people from travelling to countries on the amber list.
The government had come up with a system of traffic light for foreign tours that resumed 17 May onwards. It allows travel to only those countries that are part of the green list, like Israel, Portugal, and Iceland.
The government had to come up with a strict clarification post confusion arising out of a comment made by George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, who said that travelling was permitted to the amber listed countries if people quarantined on return. Some travel companies refused refunds to these destinations saying it was now legal to travel to these areas.
Also read: UK Economy Recovered from Pandemic Lows in March, Claims New ONS Data
Prime Minister Boris Johnson clarified that it was important for people to understand that places on the amber list should not be destinations chosen for travel. He said that to be very clear, these are not the places where one should be going for a holiday.
Johnson further clarified that if it is absolutely necessary to travel to amber listed countries for emergencies, then on return, one would have to self-isolate for 10 days, and the quarantine period would be enforced with a fine of up to £10,000.
A limited number of destinations on the green list had left airlines companies disappointed. Now, further clarification on amber listed countries would impact travel tour operators. Here, we will have a look at 2 FTSE 250 stocks and see how the news impacted their stock movement:
TUI AG (LON: TUI)
The travel operator’s shares fell 1.34 per cent and were trading at GBX 427.50 on 19 May at 09:01 GMT+1. Though, the stock has given one-year return of 129.09 per cent. Meanwhile, the benchmark index, FTSE 250, was down 0.24 per cent at 22,280.17.
(Source: EODHD/Others, Thomson Reuters)
For the period of October-March, the company’s revenue fell 89 per cent to €716 million from €6,638.7 million in the same period a year ago. The group’s loss increased 83.8 per cent to €1,498 million from a loss of €815 million in the same period a year ago.
WH Smith Plc (LON:SMWH)
The shares of the company operating concessions in most of the key airports of the UK were down 1.77 per cent and were trading at GBX 1700.8 on 19 May at 10:06 GMT+1. The stock has a one-year return of 82.14 per cent.
(Source: EODHD/Others, Thomson Reuters)
For the six months ended 28 February 2021, the company reported a loss of £31 million from its travel business compared to a profit of £50 million in the same period a year ago. It reported a headline loss of £17 million compared to a profit of £80 million in the same period a year ago. For the UK travel business, total revenue was £79 million compared to £271 million in the same period a year ago.
