Testing and quarantine rules for people arriving in England have
changed 50 times since the beginning of the pandemic, according to research by
the PA news agency which has been reported in several publications.
The analysis found that the country’s green, amber, and red
travel lists have been updated every three weeks since they were introduced in
May. Between July 2020 and January 2021, the list of countries in the previous
system of quarantine-free travel corridors changed almost weekly.
The travel industry has called for a simplification of the
rules and an end to the constant changes.
Speaking to Sky News, ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer
urged the government to be "much clearer about the data and
rationale" behind its decisions.
EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren added, "Now is the time for the government to
simplify the rules around travel, make green truly green and restriction-free,
remove expensive and unnecessary testing requirements for the fully vaccinated
travelling from amber countries, and put an end to this constant rollercoaster
of changes.”
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC
Agency, told the ITV
that the number of changes was “absolutely staggering”.
He said: “Every time there’s a change in the traffic lights
or the policy itself, that has a huge impact not just on consumers, but also on
the travel sector itself, which has had to go through this turmoil over the
last 18 months or so.
“It has been one of the worst government policies ever.”
A government spokesman said: "Our top priority is to
protect public health. Decisions on our traffic light system are kept under
regular review and are informed by the latest risk assessment from the Joint
Biosecurity Centre and wider public health factors.
"We know this is a challenging time for the travel
industry which is why we are providing an unprecedented package of support to
protect jobs and businesses."
Further changes to the travel rules are expected later this week.