Quarantine rules threaten to leave travel firms and their staff stranded

Other sectors are opening up, but travel and tourism were dealt a further blow last week. They urgently need state support

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown the travel industry into a tailspin. In the latest blow for the sector, the government last week imposed quarantine measures on people arriving in Britain from France and several other countries.

Even before that move, the outlook was bleak. Tui, Europe's biggest holiday company, warned last week that it had lost 2bn (1.8bn) in the nine months to the end of June. Revenues had collapsed by 98% between April and June - the period during which lockdown measures effectively grounded international flights around the world.