England’s holiday rules changed 50 times during the pandemic

England’s holiday rules have changed 50 times during the pandemic, with even Transport Secretary Grant Shapps getting caught out by rule changes while being abroad.

So far during the coronavirus pandemic holidaymakers have had to cope with 50 changes to international travel rules. Travel chiefs describe the number of changes as “absolutely staggering”. They also said that the rules should be simplified to “put an end to this constant rollercoaster of changes”.

The almost constant changes have left holidaymakers in confusion and EasyJet boss Johan Lundgren commented that: ‘It is no wonder that consumers in the UK are confused.

‘Now is the time for Government to simplify the rules around travel, make green truly green and restriction free, remove expensive and unnecessary testing requirements for the fully vaccinated travelling from amber countries, and put an end to this constant rollercoaster of changes.’

The rule changes were called “absolutely staggering” by Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency.

“Every time there’s a change in the traffic lights or the policy itself that has a huge impact not just on consumers, but also on the travel sector itself, which has had to go through this turmoil over the last 18 months or so,” said Charles.

“It has been one of the worst Government policies ever.”

The government though have defended the changes and said: “Our top priority is to protect public health. Decisions on our traffic light system are kept under regular review and are informed by the latest risk assessment from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and wider public health factors.

“We know this is a challenging time for the travel industry which is why we are providing an unprecedented package of support to protect jobs and businesses.”

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