Transport secretary Grant Shapps confirmed the widely expected loosening of rules for fully jabbed inbound passengers on Wednesday (28 July) through social media platform Twitter.

Joss Croft, chief executive of UKinbound, said: “Today’s announcement that quarantine will be removed for vaccinated US and EU visitors to England is a fantastic step forward that will allow the £28 billion inbound tourism sector, which supports over 500,000 jobs across the UK, to finally restart. 

“However, businesses that are reliant on international visitors still face substantial barriers to recovery, having had virtually no business since March 2020.

“Even with reciprocity, the valuable 2021 summer season is all but lost for inbound tourism, meaning thousands of businesses and jobs will continue to be at risk over winter.”

Croft warned that the inbound industry still needed further financial support and the government should not consider this announcement as “job done”.

“This simply is not the case - there are still significant restrictions at our borders, constraining businesses’ ability to trade,” said Croft.

“This leaves our sector in desperate need of targeted support, to ensure businesses and skilled jobs survive into 2022, when this industry will be able to significantly aid the country’s economic recovery.”