Charlie Cornish, CEO of Manchester Airports Group, owners of East Midlands Airport comments on the recent announcement on the international travel ‘traffic light’ system.
Montenegro and Thailand will move to the red list 4am Monday 30 August. The Azores, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania and Switzerland will move to the green list.
Charlie Cornish, CEO of MAG, said: “Today’s announcement will have a positive impact on the options available to those looking to go on holiday in the remaining days of the summer season.
“But in reality, these changes will make little difference to the overall recovery of the UK travel industry, which is already recovering at less than half the pace of the rest of Europe.
“Europe’s stronger recovery has been driven by the removal of testing requirements on vaccinated travellers.
“’ was supposed to deliver, while passengers on the continent travel restriction-free to low-risk destinations.
“Government cannot wait until the 1 October to make changes to the travel regime and must press ahead with an overhaul of its traffic light system immediately.
• 26 August – International travel update: new destinations added to government travel lists
“We must arrive at a simpler, more affordable and sustainable travel framework to enable the best possible winter season and give customers the confidence to book ahead for 2022.”