By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – Shares in UK travel stocks were falling on Monday after the UK government added new restrictions to travellers from France, while cases in Britain continued to soar.
From today, travellers returning from countries on the UK’s amber list do not have to quarantine upon their return if they are fully vaccinated. However, arrivals from France, which is on the amber list, will still have to self-isolate due to an increase of cases of the Beta variant.
There are some fears that the vaccines are not as effective against the Beta variant than other Covid variants, including the Delta variant which is the prominent strain in the UK.
“Freedom Day”
Monday has been dubbed “Freedom Day” in England as restrictions are further eased. However, the easing of measures is coming against the backdrop of rapidly rising cases and there are fears that the government is making a policy mistake by opening up further.
On Sunday, the UK recorded over 54,000 daily cases and despite the vaccination weakening the link between illness and death, other countries are unlikely to welcome international travel from the UK without restrictions while cases are rising at such an alarming rate, whether passengers are double jabbed or not.
The FTSE 350 Travel & Leisure sub index was trading lower by 3.4% with all constituents trading lower by at least 1%.
Cruise liner Carnival PLC (LON:CCL) was the worst performing stock, shedding over 7%.
Airlines EasyJet (LON:EZJ), IAG (LON:ICAG) and Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ) were trading lower by between 3.7% and 5.2%.
Despite the end of social distancing and mask wearing restrictions, pubs and restaurants were not faring much better with Restaurant Group (LON:RTN) down 5.2%, Marston’s (LON:MARS) down 4.0%, Mitchells & Butlers (LON:MAB) down 3.8% and J D Wetherspoon (LON:JDW) down 2.9%.
Hotel companies Whitbread (LON:WTB) and InterContinental Hotels Group (LON:IHG) were both trading lower by over 3%.