Britons left behind in race to sun loungers
As Euro nations waive tests and quarantine for vaccinated travellers...
MINISTERS are under growing pressure to relax travel curbs after a string of European nations said they would waive restrictions for Britons who have been vaccinated.
Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland have said jabbed citizens or overseas visitors will be able to sidestep testing and quarantine measures this summer.
By contrast, vaccinated Britons must follow the same onerous rules as those who have not had the jab when returning home.
Travel chiefs yesterday said the Government’s ‘overly cautious’ approach would put our tourism industry at a ‘competitive disadvantage’.
However, airport officials warned of ‘border chaos’ when international travel restarts next week.
Johan Lundgren, chief executive of easyJet, said tougher rules meant ‘ not only are Brits going to be beaten to the sun loungers by the Germans, Dutch and Swiss but this will leave them picking up a bigger bill for their holiday, coupled with an onerous, expensive and unnecessary testing regime for low-risk countries. We don’t want Britons to be left behind in the race to the sun, when the huge success of our vaccination programme does mean travel can safely reopen.’
Tim Alderslade, of Airlines UK, said: ‘The UK will rapidly fall behind the rest of Europe unless it looks again at its overly cautious approach to international travel. There is no reason why our green list can’t be expanded to include the US and the most popular European hotspots, or for the UK not to follow the EU’s lead in exempting vaccinated travellers from restrictions.’
Just 12 destinations are currently ranked green on the green list. Holidaymakers do not have to quarantine on return but must take two tests, one before and one after travelling.
Travellers to amber countries must take three tests in total and self-isolate for ten days on return.
On Wednesday the Netherlands said vaccinated travellers to and from countries it designates green or yellow can sidestep testing and quarantine rules.
Germany yesterday said it will also drop testing and quarantine for jabbed people coming from low-risk countries. Switzerland is dropping quarantine for jabbed people from ‘safe’ countries.
And Spain has said all Britons would be welcome this summer if our infection rates stay low.
Tory MP Henry Smith, chairman of the parliamentary cross-party Future of Aviation group, said: ‘Our aviation and travel industries will be vital to our economic recovery and placing them at a competitive disadvantage to our competitors makes no sense whatsoever. This must be considered at the highest levels of Government ahead of the first review point.’
It came as Heathrow officials raised concerns about whether Border Force is equipped to deal with the expected surge in passengers as more countries join the green list later this summer.
The airport has seen seven-hour queues despite just a fraction of pre-pandemic passenger arrivals. All Covid paperwork is checked manually, meaning it can take 15 times longer to process people.
Travel chiefs said re- opening e-gates and integrating them with passenger locator forms, which each traveller must fill out, is crucial to avoid lengthy delays.
They also want guard numbers boosted. Liz Hegarty, operations director at Heathrow, said: ‘It’s really resource intensive and they [Border Force] just don’t have the people. The Government does need to resource and automate some of these checks so the technology and e-gates can speed things up.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘To protect public health, queues and wait times are expected to be longer as it is vital that thorough checks are undertaken.’
‘Aviation vital to our economic recovery’