How will new hotel quarantine rules impact aviation and hospitality sectors? 

The United Kingdom will be implementing new hotel quarantine rules from 15 February for the passengers entering the country. UK health secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons on Tuesday that all travellers from the high-risk nation list will have to compulsorily stay in a hotel for 10 nights after their arrivals. 

The government has taken these steps to limit the spread of the new Covid-19 variants of coronavirus. At present, there are 33 countries on the government’s red list.   

Copyright © 2020 Kalkine Media Pty Ltd.

Rules in place 

As per the government’s rules, people coming from overseas will have to take a 10-day home quarantine, except UK nationals and Ireland residents. The authorities have also asked travellers to present a certificate of a negative Covid-19 test taken within three days of departure. This rule was implemented since 18 January. 

Related Read: England-bound travellers will have to produce negative Covid-19 test under new rules 

More rules 

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has made clear that the passengers travelling from the red-list countries will have to self-identify in advance and pre-book a room, worth less than £1,750. The charges of the isolation stay will be borne by the passengers themselves. The DHSC said that the bookings will be made through an online portal and will include facilities such as transportation, accommodation, food and drinks, security, testing and welfare. 

Those who fail to abide by the rules will have to bear heavy penalties. 

Travellers are also needed to fill the passenger locator form to inform the UK Border Force about their past travel history. 

As of now, a total of 4,600 rooms across 16 hotels have been secured by the UK government for quarantining travellers. 

Red-list countries 

Passengers arriving from 33 countries with high infection rates have been asked to quarantine themselves in the hotels. Some of the countries in the list are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Lesotho, Mauritius, South Africa, and Venezuela. 

Stocks rise 

After Hancock declared the new hotel quarantine plans and extended testing for travellers arriving in Britain on Tuesday, there was a rise in the hotel stocks, but the airline stocks slid. Shares of the airline companies such as Ryanair Holdings PLC (LON: RYA), International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LON: IAG), and EasyJet PLC (LON: EZJ) were moving downwards, amid rising concern that this move of the government could further reduce the number of flyers. 

Interesting Read: EasyJet and IAG Stocks Soften with Slump in Demand on New Quarantine Measures 

However, shares of the tourism sector such as those of Whitbread PLC (LON: WTB) jumped by 1.8 per cent, while InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (LON: IHG) surged by 0.9 per cent on Tuesday afternoon at the London Stock Exchange. 

Government under pressure 

The Boris Johnson administration has been criticised by the opposition for delaying the implementation of the hotel quarantine plan. 

Nick Thomas-Symonds, a spokesman of Labour's home affairs, said that the nation was racing against time to protect its borders from the new virus strains. The hotel quarantine rule will be applicable for more than 50 days after the emergence of South African variant, he noted. 

Junior Foreign Minister James Cleverly said the new rule was an addition to the existing measures, and that the hotel industry has been notified beforehand since the government wants to ensure that the new rule works. 

Besides, a spokeswoman from the Health Department said Britain has already had one of the toughest border regimes for travellers in the world. She insisted that the authorities were working at fast pace to secure the facilities required for introducing the new measure to safeguard British nationals from travellers returning from high-risk countries.