York travel agent: 'we've been crying out for the easing of restrictions'
Travellers coming into England will no longer need a pre-departure Covid test from tomorrow morning - a move that's been welcomed locally.
It's hoped the travel industry in York and North Yorkshire will get a boost from eased restrictions.
The Prime Minister announced yesterday that travellers coming into England will no longer need a pre-departure Covid test from tomorrow morning (from 4am).
Boris Johnson told the House of Commons the tests aren't necessary because the Omicron variant's so prevalent here already.
David Carruthers runs Conexo Travel in York, and told Greatest Hits Radio York:
"As an industry we've been crying out for this since the rules were first brought in. Since October (2021) we saw an upsurge in interest and confidence for people booking holidays, but then it dropped off a cliff as soon as they introduced return testing.
"I understand why people have been nervous to book abroad, so at least now people have got the confidence to book travel. Once you're back in the UK there's no need to isolate whilst you get your day 2 results, and the day 2 results have been changed to an LFT - which is a bit cheaper.
"All in all it's as good an announcement as we could have hoped for. Traditionally December is a quiet month for the travel industry, but January and February are the two months where we make a lot of business - the timing of this announcement has been crucial.
"There are still going to be online forms to fill in and people get nervous around them, but they're not difficult to deal with. We'd like to see all that eventually done away with and get back to normal, but the reality is that side of things won't happen straight away.
"We're speaking to customers every day about the restrictions. There are two sides to it: one is what happens when you arrive in the country and what rules they have; the other side is what happens when you come back to the UK and what do we want. The good news is that our Government have reduced the requirements that have put a lot of people off booking holidays.
"Onwards and upwards, hopefully".