© Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty ImagesUK transport secretary Grant Shapps said the pandemic had created a ‘new world’ and that he expected countries to require passengers to be fully vaccinated before travel
The comments from Grant Shapps suggest the pandemic will permanently alter the way people travel, and that the airline and tourism industries will have to adapt to extra bureaucracy and checks when people cross borders indefinitely.
He said the pandemic had created a "new world" and that he expected countries to require passengers to be fully vaccinated before travel.
"I think double vaccination or full vaccination is going to be a feature for evermore, and most countries, probably all countries, will require full vaccination for you to enter," he told BBC radio on Thursday.
Shapps also urged more young adults to come forward to be vaccinated, warning they would not be able to travel without it.
"If you are perhaps in your twenties and you feel like 'oh this does not really affect me', well it is going to because you are not going to be able to leave the country. That is not something the British government is doing, that is something that is being required by every government around the world," he told LBC radio.
A White House official this week said the US government was drawing up plans to require all foreign visitors to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Some parts of the travel industry have reacted with alarm, and the World Travel and Tourism Council warned vaccination requirements for travel would create "effective 'no-go' areas for vast tracts of the world".
"Right now, many less-developed countries simply don't have the resources or infrastructure to speedily vaccinate their populations," the WTTC said.
Shapps' predictions came as the government eased some travel curbs in a much-needed boost to the travel industry.
Passengers returning to England from France will from Sunday no longer need to quarantine on arrival if they are vaccinated. This simplification of the much-criticised traffic light system brings France into line with rules for other "amber" countries.
A handful of countries, including Germany and Austria, have been added to the "green" list, which allows quarantine-free travel for everyone including unvaccinated people. Meanwhile, travel hubs India, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have been taken off the "red" list, meaning arrivals will no longer have to quarantine in government-approved hotels.
The travel industry broadly welcomed the news but urged ministers to go further, in particular, to reduce the testing rules that require everyone returning to England from abroad to take two tests, including at least one expensive PCR test.
"The UK's economic recovery is reliant on a thriving travel sector and right now we're lagging behind Europe, with our more stringent testing requirements and a red list significantly broader than our European peers," said Sean Doyle, chief executive of British Airways.
Shapps defended the testing regime, and said it would be "irresponsible" not to check for new coronavirus variants when people return home from travel. "That's how you guard against the next big variant that none of us knows about yet," he added.
"We want our travel industry to be successful, and in the ideal world . . . I wish that people could just travel freely without any of this burden or tests or anything else. We have to live in the reality which is that different variants of the coronavirus can spring up anywhere."
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