Industry associations say the removal of the remaining countries from the government’s red list will further boost consumer confidence to travel, but vow to lobby for a simpler approach.
On Thursday, the government removed all the remaining seven countries from its red list for international travel, meaning those returning from Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Haiti and the Dominican Republic from 4am on Monday (November 1) will not have to quarantine in a hotel.
The red list and 10-day hotel quarantine strategies will remain as options for the government to reinstate if necessary, and reviews will continue to take place every three weeks.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive at Advantage Travel Partnership, said: “The removal of the final seven countries from the red list is welcome news and will be another boost for the industry, business travel and the visiting friends and family market.
“The current positivity rates among travellers returning home to the UK (including those unvaccinated) stands at 0.3%, far less than at home, and with no variants of concern from any red list destination the continuation of the red list carried no foundation.”
More: Zero-country red list ‘normalises’ international travel
However, she pointed out: “In spite of relaxed restrictions, travel still remains highly complex due to the different protocols imposed by individual destinations and the four-nation approach makes it a challenge for the industry and consumers.
“We will continue to lobby for a simpler approach moving into the new year.
“If the government wanted to give the industry an early Christmas present, they’d scrap all testing for vaccinated travellers, align with a UK wide four-nation approach and progress international collaboration with more vigour to ensure global travel can really take steps towards meaningful recovery.”
Julia Simpson, president and chief executive of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which hascalled for a scrapping of the red list altogether, said: “The government has finally listened to voices from across the travel and tourism sector by removing all countries from the discredited red list, allowing everyone fully-vaccinated to travel freely – and safely.
“This will provide a much-needed boost for the travel and tourism sector.
But she said: “While the red list is being kept in reserve, we hope the government won’t at any time re-introduce costly and unnecessary hotel quarantines and shift its risk assessment from entire countries to individuals.”
Gary Lewis, chief executive of The Travel Network Group, said the industry will be “breathing a sigh of relief” after hearing yesterday’s red list announcement.
“It is encouraging to see further progress being made to remove barriers to free travel after 19 months of restrictions,” he said. “We hope that this move helps to build customer confidence and reassure people that they can book trips and travel without the threat of costly or disruptive changes to their plans.”
Professor Denis Kinane, a immunologist at testing firm Cignpost Diagnostics, favours replacing hotel quarantine for people travelling from red list countries with a PCR test on the day of arrival followed by a five-day home isolation and a secondary confirmatory test.
He said: “The best way to accommodate red list countries is not to take every country off the red list, but to change the handling of red list persons.
“At a cost of around £70 for each test, this is a significant reduction on the price of quarantine, yet will pick up 99.9% of positive cases and allow us to sequence results to guard against potential new strains of the virus.”