Brexit blowback as WTTC switches from London to Madrid

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has announced Madrid as its new headquarters following the organisation’s decision to leave its London base after 35 years.

The WTTC announced this week that its executive committee had unanimously approved the Spanish capital as the location of its new global headquarters, news hub Travel Mole reported.

The move is designed to deliver greater value to members and unlock fresh growth potential for the travel and tourism sector.

Madrid was selected following a competitive evaluation process in which five destinations formally expressed interest in hosting the new office: Dubai, France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland.

Each bid was assessed against six core criteria, including office rental and operating costs; the fiscal, incentive, and competitive environment; fast-track visa and work permit arrangements; government support; cost of living to attract and retain talent; and proximity to international organizations.

All 17 members of the WTTC executive committee endorsed Madrid after an in-depth review of the organization’s long-term strategic and operational needs.

Committee members concluded that the Spanish capital offered the most compelling overall proposition, combining strong competitiveness, a more favourable tax environment, robust public-sector backing, simplified visa procedures for staff, and lower overall operating costs.

Ongoing challenges linked to Brexit - particularly restrictions on talent mobility - were also cited as factors that reduced the UK’s attractiveness.

Establishing its global office in Madrid will give WTTC immediate access to a far larger and more diverse talent pool.

The Spanish capital is already home to the UNWTO, which could provide more synergies between the two organisations.

“Madrid gives us the platform to operate more efficiently, deliver greater value to our members, access world-class talent, and maintain a truly global outlook, with the strong support of the Spanish government,” said WTTC chairman Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio of Italy.

# The WTTC is a forum for the travel and tourism industry. It comprises members from the global business community and works with governments to raise awareness about the travel and tourism industry.

Brits to pay for Brexit but Aussies will also cough up

The majority of Britons voted for Brexit - and they now need to pay for their mistake. 

Britons travelling to Europe next ­summer will need to apply for a €7 visa waiver, officials in Brussels have confirmed. 

Ylva Johansson, the EU home affairs commissioner, said this week that the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) was on course to launch in the northern spring. 

Passengers visiting the bloc will be required to apply for a waiver - similar to the US ESTA - before thry travel. So even the simplest of cross channel trips will become a hassle. 

The waiver will be valid for three years or until a passport expires, whichever is first. 

Johansson was speaking before the launch of the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES), which will come into force on November 10. 

Together, the two new schemes, designed to make the Euro bloc’s border more secure in the face of terrorist threats, will make travel significantly more bureaucratic.

Under the EES, all passengers without EU passports (that obviously includes Australians)  will be required to have their fingerprints registered and their pictures taken on arrival in mainland Europe.

They will be checked on each subsequent visit. It will add two to three minutes processing time per passenger, compared with the present 45 seconds, experts have estimated.

Brexit "blessings" continue with Eurostar blow

Planning to catch a Eurostar train between London and Amsterdam next summer?

Sorry, the bad news is that you might have to fly instead.

It was announced this week that Eurostar’s Amsterdam service could be facing a suspension of up to 11 months due to renovations to be undertaken at Amsterdam’s main railway station (above).

The work at the station will limit space, meaning a lack of facilities to complete post-Brexit passport checks for Eurostar Amsterdam travellers. Yet another Brexit bonus.

The work will last from June 2024 to May 2025, Travel Mole reports.

The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure says it could complete the renovation work within seven months. But the best estimate is 11 months.

The work will eventually shift the Eurostar terminal to a lower level beneath the main rail station.

Eurostar Amsterdam trains run four times daily.

“We calculate it means 21 extra flights between Schiphol and London and that is crying shame,” Eurostar said in a statement.

Eurostar CEO Gwendoline Cazenave is in the Netherlands this week for talks with government officials.

Unless a solution can be found, the suspension would see the Eurostar network reduced from a pre-Brexit total of 13 year-round stations to just four: London, Lille, Paris and Brussels.

Passport office strike: travel misery post-Brexit goes on and on

Travel in and out of Britain is already a lot more cumbersome and time consuming than it used to be - one of the many "benefits" of Brexit.

Now a passport office strike could spell disaster for the holiday plans of thousands of Britons already suffering from the folly of their political masters and their own stupidity in voting to leave the EU.

Over 1,000 workers at the passport office will go on strike for several weeks from April 3, Travel Mole reports.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union warned of a ‘significant impact’ on the processing of passports

About one quarter of all passport office workers will strike.

The proposed industrial action will impact locations at Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newport, Peterborough and Southport.

It could potentially affect the handling of an estimated one million passport applications.

The PCS union said the Passport Office strike is over an imposed, non-negotiable 2% pay rise.

The union says it was forced into the "significant escalation" as ministers ‘have failed to hold any meaningful talks with us.’

Brexit issues causing empty seats on Eurostar trains

Brexit, the gift that keeps on destroying, has severely impacted Eurostar trains travelling between the UK and France.

Post-Brexit border procedures mean more time is needed so that UK passengers' passports can be checked and stamped.

Eurostar chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave said post-Brexit border checks and current levels of border staff had seen 30% less travellers being accommodated.

She said new border formalities had caused "bottlenecks" in stations.

Eurostar is currently operating just 14 services per day between London and Paris, compared with 18 in 2019.

About 350 out of 900 seats are being left unsold on the first services between London, Paris and Brussels despite “huge demand”, British media reported.

Cazenave told local media that the company might not restore some services it suspended last year due to the ongoing problems.

"The thing is now we are not able to run the same transport offer as what we had before in 2019, because of bottlenecks in stations," she said.

"We have a main issue in Eurostar terminals because of the new boarding conditions between the UK and EU, because of the impact of Covid, because of [not enough] staff in the stations."

Cazenave added that Eurostar was working with both French and UK authorities to find a solutions - including utilising more border staff.

Eurostar last year stopped its direct service from London to Disneyland Paris and also ended stops at Ebbsfleet or Ashford International stations.

UK passengers travelling to the EU need their passport stamped when they cross the border, which has caused many delays.

An Entry/Exit System, or EES, will replace the checks, but the technology has been delayed several times and is now due to be implemented at the end of 2023.

Eurostar is currently offering only 70% of available seats on some services, leaving mny empty to avoid further delays.

Brits get more of the Brexit chaos that they voted for

The Brexit "triumph" that bumbling buffoon Boris Johnson delivered for British racists just keeps delivering more and more well-deserved chaos.

The Port of Dover has warned cross-Channel travellers to expect "monumental" waiting times after it declared a ‘critical incident’.

Holidaymakers on ferry sailings to France have said they have been waiting five hours to pass through border checks, Travel Mole reports.

Port of Dover CEO Doug Bannister blamed French border control authorities.

He told BBC Radio Kent travellers have been ‘badly let down’ by ‘insufficient resources’ for border checks.

It might be noted that a majority of Brits voted to leave Europe, promised all sorts of benefits by Johnson and his team of charlatans.

Since Brexit, all Britons leaving for the continent have to have their passports stamped. Something that Britain insisted on when it left the EU.

This takes far longer than the previous checks when people typically just waved their passport at the guards and they were waved through. This weekend is expected to be one of the busiest of the year for travel.

“The Dover route remains the most popular sea route to France and France remains one of the key holiday destinations for British families,” Dover port officials said.

“We know that resource is finite, but the popularity of Dover is not a surprise.

“Regrettably, the Police aux Frontieres resource has fallen far short of what is required to ensure a smooth first weekend of the peak summer getaway period.”

Dover said it had shared data on expected passenger numbers and UK officials had been in discussions with the French in recent days.

“We will continue to work with all Kent partners to look after those caught up in the current situation, which could and should have been avoided,” the Port added.

Snigger. 

# I just saw a report that both French border control and the Port of Dover asked in 2020 for funding for an adequate numbers of booths to be installed at the port. The Conservative government refused.

Travel chaos set to continue in Britain

In Britain, trains are often delayed or cancelled because of "the wrong sort of leaves on the track".

It comes as no surprise, then, to learn that Britons have been warned that the current travel chaos plaguing that country would last for a further 18 months.

The end of travel restrictions and Brexit have created a perfect storm for ill-prepared airlines and airport operators.

Large-scale cancellations and delays could last for another 18 months says Heathrow Airport chief executive John Holland-Kaye.

Which sounds like a good reason not to visit Britain in 2022.

“I think it will take 12 to 18 months for the aviation sector to fully recover capacity, so we will have to really carefully manage supply and demand,” Holland-Kay said at the Financial Times’ Global Boardroom conference.

He urged the Government to streamline rules further for security background checks to speed up the hiring of new staff.

“What we saw in some airports over the past few weeks is that supply and demand were out of balance... we need to make sure we are planning much better,” he said.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of the Advantage Travel Partnership, said agents and call handlers are receiving "a significant number" of calls from concerned customers

“About 30% of all calls are from customers that are reading the headlines, have bookings for July and August and are worried," she said.

It is "hideous and disappointing" for customers who find their flights are being cancelled.

Cancellations continued this week with easyJet and Wizz Air among the airlines scrapping flights, Travel Mole reported.

To add to the travel chaos, Britain is bracing for the largest rail strike in decades after unuons announced industrial action on June 2, 23 and 25.

Brexit crows come home to roost

The majority of Britons voted to leave the European Union and now they are reaping what they sowed.

Tens of thousands of British passport holders have been left stranded across airports all over Europe after yet another series of flight cancellations and immigration queue delays over the current holiday period.

Many travellers were due to return to the UK over the weekend but 100 flights were cancelled due to the ongoing issues with staff shortages that have plagued airports for months.

Lengthy queues - with Britons overseas forced to queue in "Non EU" lines, mass cancellations and delays are the fault of Brexit, London mayor Sadiq Khan has said.

He has called on the Government to relax immigration rules and allow European workers who were employed in the aviation industry before Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic to return in order to plug the labour shortage in the sector.

Transport minister Grant Shapps, however, accused travel bosses of “cutting too far” during the pandemic and said it was up to the sector to solve the issues. Shapps is apparently not very bright.

British media reported passport holders infuriated at being held in long queues, while holders of Irish passports (part of the EU) whizzed through immigration formalities across Europe.

Bumbling Boris wants to bring back pounds and ounces, inches and feet

Boris Johnson's public persona sits somewhere between pompous party-loving prat, and mendacious grifter.

I'm assured, by a friend who went to school with him, that his private persona is even worse. He is, however, as master of deflection. "Look over there."

Viewed from afar, Bonking Boris would appear to hanker for the 1950s, when toffs took charge and proles knew their (subservient) roles.

The British Prime Minister's latest jolly wheeze to put the great back in Great Britain is to bring back imperial measurements.

He clearly hopes this deflection will please Brexiteers and deflect away from that little disaster.

Local media reported the Conservative Party hopes the move could shore up support in pro-Brexit regions after Government popularity took a hit amid revelations about lockdown-busting parties at 10 Downing Street.

Britain currently uses a mix of imperial and metric measurements, with speed limits in miles per hour and milk and beer bought in pints.

The Sunday Mirror reported that Johnson is expected to announce next week that British shops will be allowed to sell products measured in pounds and ounces to coincide with celebrations for the Queen's 70 years on the throne.

“As the British people have been happy to use both imperial and metric measurements in their daily life it is good for the government to reflect that now we are free to change our regulations accordingly,” the newspaper reported a Government source as saying.

Since 1995, goods sold in Europe have had to display metric weights and measurements. And since 2000 - when the EU’s weights and measures directive came into force - traders have been legally required to use metric units for the sale by weight or measure of fresh produce, which became a recurring issue for Eurosceptics about Brussels’ alleged interference in the "traditional" British way of life.

While it is still legal to price goods in pounds and ounces, these have to be displayed alongside the price in grams and kilograms.

During the 2019 general election campaign, Johnson pledged that he would bring back imperial units in shops.

He claimed that measuring in pounds and ounces was an “ancient liberty” as he heralded a “new era of generosity and tolerance” towards traditional measurements.

Only three other countries, the US, Myanmar and Liberia, use the imperial system on a daily basis.

But what could be more British than confusing the hell out of tourists by using two sets of measurements side by side?