The big news for the UK is clearly the vaccine roll-out which is now past 15 million people and should be everyone over 50 (and those younger but at risk) by the end of April.  That will be another 15 million and take the UK vaccinated to over 50% of the population.  Things slow down a bit then as previously vaccinated people return for their second dose but the whole UK population should be vaccinated by Autumn.

Not a great end to 2020 or a great start to 2021 up in Europe if we are being honest but this will be short term. December was initially positive with the vaccines starting to get authorized and used but the new Covid variant soon put paid to any celebrations later in the month and into the start of the new year. But there are positives……..

Another interesting month with a lot of changes in the UK/Europe landscape and travel market. The consensus is that we seem to have turned a corner with Covid 19 mainly due to the three vaccines (so far) that are being rolled out all over Europe. There is a strong air of positivity even faced with numbers increasing in many areas/countries.

Scandinavia is having a very tough time with Denmark going into a strong lock-down and Sweden also being forced to increase their measures to reduce the spread. Even the King is unhappy about the situation https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55347021

Some good news coming in at last as we seem to have turned a corner in the UK and Europe. The UK and other parts of Europe are still in lockdown https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-53640249 but there is now mass testing going on and the latest news is the production of a vaccine that works for 90% of the people tested. This has seen a massive boost to the confidence of businesses, consumers and the general population. Share markets have jumped significantly and customers have started booking future holidays

I would loved to have been able to post great news of recovery in the UK/Europe markets and businesses building back up again but the truth is that it looks like we are heading into a second wave of Covid19. We have lost further businesses and many agencies are closing further shops or trimming back on staff.

The UK and Scandinavian travel industries are still struggling for long haul travel. Domestic travel has boomed all over the UK and Scandinavia with people rediscovering their own and neighbouring countries which to many are even better when not full of overseas tourists