HUNDREDS of people from across England attended a protest this week in support of the travel industry, ahead of the government's latest announcement on restrictions for holidaymakers.

Worcester travel agents, Spires Travel, who were amongst those lobbying on College Green, Westminster on Wednesday (June 23), has outlined the importance of "clear and concise" guidelines for the industry.

Paul Knapper, owner of the agency, in Deansway, said: "We have had 15 months with zero income. If the government continue to restrict travel we need specific sector support. We need more clarity on the decisions made around the traffic light system".

Organised by nine different companies within the industry, the Travel Day of Action, saw representatives from around the UK turn up in support.

14 holiday destinations added to green list

Mr Knapper said: "It was great to see many people from across the travel industry including travel agents, tour operators, pilots, cabin crew and airport staff from companies like British Airways and Easyjet come together and lobby the government.

He added: "We are asking for specific sector support and expanded Green List. We managed to arrange a meeting with our Local MP for Worcester, Robin Walker, who was very understanding and sympathetic to the issues we are all facing. He advised he will be writing to the Global task force to get across the issues raised".

The demonstration, which began at 12.30pm, set out to highlight issues the industry has suffered during the pandemic. Mr Knapper said, over the course of the day, protesters managed to arrange meetings with 60 MPs to express concerns.

He said: "Before this, we couldn’t seem to get our point across, but now 60 MPs are now fully ware of our situation – hopefully this might change now and things will look brighter for us".

Speaking to the Worcester News ahead of the government's announcement, he said: "We’re not holding out too much hope for it. Whatever we hear on the grapevine, we hope those places will get added. Malta has had only 13 cases over 7 days and vaccinated 70% of the population.

"In comparison, we've had 10,000 cases and the government still isn't letting us travel there."

Kelly Stanley, owner of Kelly's Travel, said: " It was very emotional to see the travel industry reunited as one yesterday. I am very proud"