The second national lockdown for England means an effective shutdown for travel businesses once again as the new restrictions include a ban on domestic and overseas holidays.

This means further pain for an industry that has already been severely damaged by measures to control the pandemic, including the constant changes to quarantine restrictions and Foreign Office (FCDO) advice, which have eroded consumer confidence in travel.

Since the start of this crisis, Abta has been in almost daily contact with the government to put the case forward for the travel industry, while recognising the importance of protecting public health.

On Monday (2 November), we wrote again to the prime minister and the chancellor to stress the need for sector-specific financial support and the option for the furlough scheme to be used flexibly, so employees can work on non-income generating activity – such as dealing with refunds and rebookings.

Through our letter to the prime minister, and our other channels and connections with government, we’re also urging the government to spend this period making sure travel is ready to restart as soon as the lockdown ends.

A hugely important part of supporting the sustained reopening of the travel industry is making sure the Global Travel Taskforce delivers on its objectives to implement a testing regime that boosts confidence in travel to and from the UK, and reduces the current 14-day quarantine period.

Our research has shown four in five people (80%) are concerned about having to quarantine when they return from holiday, and 93% are concerned about potential last-minute changes to FCDO travel advice.

Having an effective testing regime in place once the lockdown lifts would certainly help address these concerns, boost consumer confidence and help the industry’s recovery begin in earnest come December.

We are already behind many other countries on testing, and the industry can’t afford to wait any longer.

We also urge the government to spend these coming weeks working to introduce a regional rather than whole-country approach to its quarantine policy and travel advice.

While we have seen some progress in response to our calls for regionalised quarantine – such as the islands policy which opened up many Greek islands and led to the return of the Canaries, destinations Abta had highlighted as important for our members – the government now needs to extend this targeted approach to mainland destinations.

For some time now, we have been calling on the government to lift the global advisory against non-essential travel and move back to country-specific FCDO advice, so it is good to see the government has now acted on this.

It is important the FCDO advice is used to inform travellers of the risk in destination, with advice against travel used only where that risk is unacceptably high.

After the lockdown is lifted, this approach will provide a better framework for travel, alongside regionalised travel advice and testing, to help improve customer confidence.

Since the start of the crisis, I’ve been in frequent contact with the FCDO, destination governments, Abta members and counterparts in European and global bodies, working to help the industry get through this crisis.

In these conversations, I’ve been stressing how hard the industry has worked for people to be able to travel safely and responsibly.

We know just how much people want to travel, as evidenced by the surge in interest and bookings when popular destinations are added to the travel corridor list.

We now need to make sure the government delivers on its promises to support the travel industry by facilitating the sustained return of safe international travel.

Susan Deer is Abta’s director of industry relations.