Today’s clarification of country classifications open for travellers must be the first step towards a genuine re-opening of international travel, according to the Confederation of British Industry.

Matthew Fell, Chief UK Policy Director, said: “With Covid mutations posing a risk to the UK’s vaccine success story, the government has understandably acted cautiously in its plans to re-open international travel. Business supports a risk-based approach, but given the limited number of countries on the government’s initial ‘green list’, firms reliant on international travel are still heavily restricted in their ability to trade their way to recovery. The priority now has to be to work with business to lower cost barriers to safe travel and build the evidence base for safely reopening quarantine free travel to more key destinations – reconnecting UK firms with key markets for a globally competitive recovery.”