New travel rules will mean a 2022 with fewer restrictions - The Yorkshire Post says

Travel companies have taken a fearsome battering since the pandemic began, effectively losing most of the 2020 peak holiday season and seeing foreign trips severely affected throughout this year.

New restrictions will undoubtedly hit the winter getaways market, and it is possible that the industry will see yet another wave of job losses as a result.

But it is difficult to argue that the Government had any option other than to introduce pre-travel tests for incoming passengers.

The threat posed by the newly-emerged Omicron strain of Covid identified in southern Africa is still being assessed, and until it is known, taking precautionary measures to limit its spread will be regarded by most people as sensible and proportionate.

After all, there have been few quibbles about the Government reintroducing compulsory face coverings in shops and on public transport. Economically painful though it might find it, the international travel industry must accept that it also has a part to play.

And at least the restrictions have not been introduced in the peak summer months for foreign travel, but in mid-winter. The Government has been at pains to emphasise that the measures are temporary, and may be lifted within weeks.

Let us hope so, and that the travel industry can look forward to a 2022 with fewer restrictions. Caution now makes that prospect more likely.