Travel industry protests government's Covid restrictions warning that hundreds of thousands of jobs could be lost

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The UK's travel industry is holding a day of action to put pressure on the government to reopen the sector, amid warnings that nearly two thousands jobs are at risk.

Airport staff and aircrew from across the Anglia region have been demanding more financial support and a return to safe international travel.

Industry body ABTA estimates that 195,000 travel jobs have been lost or are at risk as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ministers have been accused of failing to deliver a restart to travel by "undermining" the UK's travel traffic light system.

Currently, there are no major tourist destinations on the quarantine-free 'green list' and the government has urged people to avoid holidays to countries on the amber list.

Several hundred people protested outside of the Houses of Parliament today.

Among them was Lee Hunt, who owns a travel agents in Woodbridge in Suffolk. He said:

Protesters at Westminster today Credit: ITV Anglia

Alberto Martin, CEO at London Luton Airport said:

A government spokeswoman said: "Our international travel policy is guided by one overwhelming priority: protecting public health.

"Decisions on traffic light allocations take into account a range of factors including genomic surveillance capability, transmission risk and variants of concern, with data behind decisions to move countries on the list published online.

"We keep all measures under review and continue to engage with industry and international partners to explore how we can open international travel safely. Both tailored and wider economic support is still available to the sector, including the furlough scheme."