A letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel calling for UK quarantine plans to be scrapped has now attracted over 200 signatories from the travel and hospitality sectors.

Measures requiring all arrivals into the UK to self-quarantine for 14 days are set to come into effect from June 8.

But the letter warns that “The very last thing the travel industry needs is a mandatory quarantine imposed on all arriving passengers, which will deter foreign visitors from coming here, deter UK visitors from travelling abroad and, most likely, cause other countries to impose reciprocal quarantine requirements on British visitors, as France has already announced”.

Virgin Atlantic recently delayed its resumption of flights, stating that the restrictions meant that “there simply won’t be sufficient demand to resume passenger services before August at the earliest”.

Meanwhile IAG’s CEO Willie Walsh said last month that the group’s capacity into and out of the UK “would be pretty minimal” if quarantine measures were introduced.

The campaign, led by George Morgan-Grenville, CEO of tour operator Red Savannah, is instead calling for ‘air bridges’ to be created between the UK and destinations “deemed safe from coronavirus and with strong healthcare systems in place”.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has previously said that such bridges – which would exempt arrivals from certain countries from the quarantine rules – are under consideration.

A total of 217 travel and hospitality companies had endorsed the letter as of the morning of Monday June 1, including Sir Rocco Forte, Abercrombie and Kent, Red Savannah, Scott Dunn, Claridges, The Ritz, The Connaught, Mandarin Oriental, Mr and Mrs Smith, Original Travel, Kuoni, Travelbag, iescape, Gold Medal, Cosmos, Active Travel Group, Neilson, Inghams, Hotelplan, Travel Republic and Chef Jason Atherton.

The letter also calls for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to relax its current advice against all but essential travel outside of the UK, “as this is also preventing people booking future holidays”.

Commenting on the campaign Morgan-Grenville said:

“This is not just a group of company bosses complaining, but employees from bottom to top calling for the quarantine plans to be quashed. The extent of their pain is deeply worrying for our economy and our country.”