Plans to restart international travel in jeopardy because of 'vague and costly' plans, MPs warn 

The planned restart of international travel next month is in jeopardy because of the Government’s ‘vague and costly’ plans, MPs warned last night.

The foreign travel sector has had its ‘wings clipped’ by Grant Shapps’s ‘cautious’ Global Travel Taskforce, the Commons transport select committee said in a damning report.

The MPs warned that the taskforce had given ‘insufficient’ detail to allow businesses and travellers to prepare for the safe resumption of holidays and international travel from May 17.

They also said the costs could be ‘disproportionate to the risk’ and could add £500 to the bill of a family of four travelling to even the ‘safest’ parts of the globe. This is because of the cost of testing that holidaymakers will be forced to pay for before and after their return to the UK.

The lack of clarity put the planned restart of international travel and holidays at risk, the committee added.

The MPs demanded an affordable regime to maximise the numbers who can be tested so they can go abroad.

The planned restart of international travel next month is in jeopardy because of the Government’s ‘vague and costly’ plans, MPs warned last night. The foreign travel sector has had its ‘wings clipped’ by Grant Shapps’s ‘cautious’ Global Travel Taskforce, the Commons transport select committee said in a damning report [Stock image]

They also called on ministers to announce by May 1 which countries would be placed on the ‘green list’ to allow people to plan ahead.

Earlier this month the Transport Secretary announced a traffic-light system under which countries would be categorised according to their coronavirus risk.

But Mr Shapps did not say which countries would be in the various categories or even give a date for when the Government would announce the list. He also failed to confirm May 17 – the date contained in the roadmap out of lockdown – as the point at which international travel could resume.

The transport select committee’s chairman, Huw Merriman, said this did not provide the certainty that the industry craved.

‘The aviation and travel sectors were crying out for a functional report, setting out clear rules and offering certainty – this is not it,’ he added.

‘For UK citizens seeking to travel to the parts of the globe where the vaccine has been delivered as rapidly as the UK, the cost to families from testing could be greater than the cost of the flights.’

In its analysis, the committee called for the Government to place destination countries into the traffic-light framework by May 1 and announce the details in a statement to Parliament.

It also recommended explaining the criteria and mechanism by which countries will move between risk categories and offering a testing regime that maximised the use of lateral flow tests and provided ‘affordable’ PCR tests, which are more accurate.

The committee said the price of tests was a barrier to restarting international travel and suggested that some of the UK’s enhanced testing capacity could be reallocated for resuming travel. The MPs also called on the Government to act immediately to reduce queues and waiting times at the UK border.

Earlier this month the Transport Secretary announced a traffic-light system under which countries would be categorised according to their coronavirus risk. But Mr Shapps did not say which countries would be in the various categories or even give a date for when the Government would announce the list. Pictured: A beach in Phuket, Thailand

This includes working with other countries towards the mutual recognition of travel health certification, deploying more staff, processing passenger locator forms before they arrive in the UK and establishing a system based on an app to deliver health certification.

Mr Merriman said: ‘This is a missed opportunity for the Government to capitalise on the UK’s world-leading vaccine dividend.

‘How can it be right that hauliers, arriving from parts of the globe where the vaccine rollout is slow, are able to use cheaper lateral flow testing whilst a trip back from Israel requires a PCR test, which is four times as expensive?

‘This was an opportunity to provide a global lead with standardised rules on international health certification and promoting app-based technology, making the processes at borders more secure and less time consuming.

‘The urgent situation facing the aviation and travel sectors warrants a clear action plan to green-light our travel – and the Government must urgently set it out.