Flights from Britain to Poland to be halted starting today midnight
Flights from Britain to Poland will be suspended starting from midnight on Monday due to concerns over a new strain of coronavirus, a Polish government spokesman has announced.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced over the weekend that the new strain had led to spiraling infection numbers.
His government tightened its COVID-19 restrictions for London and nearby areas, and also reversed plans to ease restrictions over the Christmas period.
Countries including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, El Salvador, Iran and others have placed restrictions on British travelers and flights in response to Johnson’s announcement.
On 5 March 2020, the International Air Transport Association estimated that the airline industry could lose between sh.674.1 billion to sh12.1 trillion ($63 to 113 billion) of revenues due to the reduced number of passengers.
Around 58 per cent of all tourists arrive at their destination by air and the stop in air traffic has created a massive negative effect on that industry as well.
Over sh 67.4 trillion ($630 billion) in reduced GDP benefits from air travel-related tourism will be matched with 26.4 million jobs lost. But tourism in a wider sense is also very hard-hit, with analysis suggesting the pandemic could translate into a drop of 850 million to 1.1 billion international tourists and a loss of sh 97.3 trillion ($910 billion) to sh 128.4 trillion ($1.2 trillion) in export revenues from tourism, putting 100 to 120 million direct tourism jobs at risk.
