Covid travel rules are far too complex
The Prime Minister has abandoned plans to add a so-called “amber watchlist” to the confused melange of travel restrictions that currently exist. Predictably, the Opposition has denounced the decision as adding to the “chaos” surrounding the regime. But it was the right thing to do. The mistake was in considering such a move to begin with.
The Government should be focusing on simplifying this system so that everyone knows precisely where they stand. At the moment there are still too many uncertainties, with the prospect of holidaymakers finding that the rules have changed after they have gone abroad. Many travel agencies and airline operators believe it would be better to dispense with the traffic light system entirely, and they are right.
A single list of countries that are off limits or require isolation on return based on the emergence of new variants, and to buy time for the risk of such strains to be assessed, would suffice. Everywhere else should be open, certainly to people who have had both vaccines. The amber list should go. Moreover, the requirement for British tourists coming home to test once before leaving and again on returning is onerous, expensive and of dubious benefit. It has become an article of faith that such systems are needed without any scientific evidence to show why.
It would be hard to envisage a more complicated and discouraging approach to travel in the middle of the holiday season, even as Covid cases decline and immunity levels grow. If the Government fears that returning holidaymakers will bring a mutation back to the UK, just as skiers helped introduce the virus in the first place in 2020, then it is hard to see when these restraints will ever be lifted.
European hoteliers are reportedly declining bookings from British holidaymakers because they do not trust the goalposts to remain where they are. But this is not just about vacations. Businessmen and women need to travel as well, notwithstanding the increase in online meetings during the pandemic. Face-to-face discussions are still an integral part of commercial interaction and there is anecdotal evidence of meetings that would have happened in Britain being transferred to the continent.
Mr Johnson has been praised for rejecting a plan that never saw the light of day. He now needs to make the system much more straightforward before the country suffers any further disadvantage.