Managing director EMEA Steve Norris said ministers should work with travel via a new taskforce, listen to the industry on pre-departure testing, and extend furlough.

His thoughts echo the aims of TTG’s newly-launched #SaveTravel manifesto, which has now been backed by nearly 1,500 people in less than 48 hours.

Norris spoke out on behalf of the high street agency after the government this week set out its plans for a hotel quarantine for UK arrivals.

"We fully support and understand the need to secure our borders against the spread of the virus and fully support the mandatory hotel quarantine for select destinations," said Norris.

"However, we would like to stress the importance of a transparent exit plan with details including when the hotel quarantine scheme would end and under what circumstances.

"We know the implementation of this policy will have a knock-on effect on the already suffering travel industry and will undoubtedly be detrimental to the UK economy if applied without the government announcing how it sees the scheme being concluded."

Norris also set out his hopes for government’s support for and engagement with travel.

"In light of the news that the Global Travel Taskforce has recently been disbanded, we implore the government to announce a replacement taskforce and offer its reassurances on how it is working on a recovery plan to restart tourism," he said.

"We still fundamentally believe that the government needs to listen, again, to our calls for a world-leading, international and consistent framework for pre-departure testing at airports to boost confidence in travel.

"We also ask ministers to grant an extension of the furlough scheme to support the many workers of this hard-hit industry beyond April. Only then do we believe we will see a viable avenue out of these latest measures."