DCMS has published an additional Q&A regarding the restarting of tourism this spring which may impact on those operators planning to start day trips before 17 May.

The Q&A published on 29 March, What does the Spring Roadmap mean for the Tourism Industry, states that day trips cannot start until 17 May if they involve multiple households. This appears to conflict with existing guidance from DfT, which would usually be regarded as the authority in transport matters. The DfT updated its Coronavirus (COVID-19): safer transport guidance for operators on 29 March 2021 to account for the ending of the ‘Stay at home’ order on that day, and the guidance continues to state that operators can transport multiple groups within a ‘Covid-Safe’ vehicle subject to their own risk assessments.

This is a key extract from the DfT guidance:

“These rules do not place any capacity constraints on public transport services and private hire vehicles, including organised coach travel. Operators should continue to provide transport services that can accommodate separate multiple groups which conform to the requirements of the relevant social contact rules.”

If there are any further clarifications from either the DfT or DCMS, we will of course report them, but it is entirely possible that there will not be anything more and operators will have to assess all the relevant material in planning operations.

[And of course, although specific dates are mentioned here, these are all subject to confirmation by the government in due course.]