Travel industry demands end of Covid tests to enter the UK

The travel industry is demanding an end to Covid tests to enter the UK as the omicron variant is “already here.”

The travel industry believes that the government should ditch pre-departure tests for people wanting to enter the UK. According to travel experts, the need for the tests is “out of date.” Testing was put in place to help prevent the omicron variant from making its way into the UK. The new strain is definitely in the UK and the number of cases is rapidly growing.

This has left travel experts confused as to why the government is still demanding the tests.

Speaking to MailOnline the chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency said: “The evidence is not there now for such restrictions to be in place coming into the UK.

“The rules are lacking evidence, there is no justification for a pre-departure test to the UK anymore. No-one needs to monitor Omicron coming in – it’s already here.

“The PM needs to remove the pre-departure test as a minimum and turn the day 2 into an easier lateral flow test.”

The chief exec believes that the rules are out of date. He explained: “Omicron is less dangerous than Delta – so why are the rules more severe than they were in Delta times?

“The rules in place have rapidly become out of date and they need to be removed urgently – there is no justification for them.”

Coronavirus travel restrictions are severely affecting the tourism industry. The director of the Tourism Alliance Kurt Janson explained: “They certainly make it difficult for it for the international travel sector whether it be inbound or outbound to function in a reasonable manner.

“It is something that needs to be resolved. From the inboard tourism perspective there is £30bn the UK earns – that’s been down 80% over the past year.

“Resolving the restrictions on international travel needs to be done. The government has got a tourism recovery plan and the target is to get figures back to 2019 levels by 2023.

“Considering we have one of the highest rates of Omicron in the world, what is the point of getting people to get a day two test?

“There is a rational in other countries where Omicron is at low levels, but for people travelling to the UK there is a real question mark over what benefits it brings this country.”

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