Two-thirds of England ‘uncomfortable’ travelling when restrictions lifted

| April 28, 2021, 08:13

Almost two-thirds of adults in England do not feel comfortable travelling internationally when restrictions are lifted, according to research, which also showed a lack of understanding of the traffic light system for travel.

A YouGov poll of more than 1,400 people found that 63% of respondents were not comfortable travelling, 30% were and 7% were unsure.

Broken down further, more than half (54%) of those who were not comfortable going overseas were ‘not at all comfortable, while the rest were ‘not very comfortable’.

Of the 30% who were comfortable, a third were ‘very comfortable’ while two-thirds were ‘fairly comfortable’.

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The poll, conducted on April 8 and 9 – when the Global Travel Taskforce published its restart framework for international travel – also found most respondents in favour of the traffic light policy trailed earlier that week.

Almost two-thirds (64%) said they supported the system, 11% opposed it, 17% neither supported or opposed it and 8% weren’t sure.

However, 52% said they were not confident the system would effectively stop the spread of Covid-19, compared with 33% who said they were and 15% who said they didn’t know.

Asked to name what was required when returning from a green list destination, only 15% of respondents correctly identified that two negative PCR tests are required. The poll found 42% of respondents said they didn’t know what was required.

Uncertainty was higher when the same question was asked for amber destinations, with 53% saying they didn’t know, and only 8% correctly identifying that two tests and 10 days in quarantine at home will be required.

For red list countries, 45% of respondents said they didn’t know the requirements, but 33% correctly identified they would need to spend 10 days in hotel quarantine.

When the two-test process for returning from green list countries was later clarified, 48% of those polled said it is not worth going on holiday to those countries, 33% said it was worth it and 19% said they didn’t know.

When the amber restrictions were spelt out, 70% of people said it was not worth going on holiday to such destinations, 15% said it was and 15% said they didn’t know.

Answers were given the week following the prime minister’s Easter Monday announcement, with further details of the taskforce – including the introduction of a ‘green watchlist’ and confirmation that PCR tests would be required – confirmed on the second day of the questions being asked.