Prime minister Boris Johnson is understood to be on the verge of scrapping government plans for a so-called "amber watchlist" before they even come into effect following the backlash from travellers, the travel industry and his own cabinet.
At the weekend, chancellor Rishi Sunak urged the PM to simplify the system, and Johnson himself on Monday (2 August) said he wanted "simple, user-friendly" travel rules that balanced risk in terms of the threat posed by new Covid-19 variants against people’s need and want to travel.
The government was warned by travel industry leaders an amber watchlist risked throwing summer holiday travel into chaos, particularly to amber list hotspots such as Spain and Greece to which they said travellers weren’t prepared to risk the prospect of hotel quarantine.
On Tuesday, the BBC – citing "government sources" – reported the amber watchlist plan would be scrapped, although a review of the traffic light regime is still understood to be due this week.
Gatwick MP Henry Smith, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Future of Aviation, said the system had become to complex, and warned any further confusion risked additional damage to the travel industry and the wider economy.
"The original traffic light system was easy to understand," said Smith. "There is a clear set of criteria. If you add levels of complexity, you increase confusion and therefore discourage travel. It isn’t helpful in terms of passenger confidence.
"We support the traffic light system of red, amber and green. However, the way it is being implemented is very confusing, complex and in many cases detrimental to a safe reopening – it is really more of a rainbow now.
"Unless we have a far greater reopening of international travel for what remains of the summer then my fear is we will see further job losses in the travel and aviation sector and the wider economy that relies on tourism.
"Rather than the sector being able to make money for the economy, it will be costing the exchequer more. Now is the time to let the industry recover.”
