Covid-19: Travel groups want to scrap testing requirement to enter US

Airline and tourism groups are pushing to eliminate the government requirement that international travellers provide a negative test for Covid-19 before boarding a US-bound plane.

They believe the testing rule is discouraging people from booking international trips. They point to the United Kingdom, which eliminated a similar rule last month.

Airlines for America, which represents the nation’s biggest carriers, and 28 other airline, travel and business groups wrote Wednesday to the White House coronavirus policy adviser urging the Biden administration to end the testing requirement.

The groups argued that the testing requirement is no longer needed because of the high number of Covid-19 cases already in every state, higher vaccinations rates and new treatments for the virus.

“Removing the requirement will greatly support the recovery of travel and aviation in the United States and globally without increasing the spread of Covid-19 and its variants,” they wrote.

The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

At the same time, one of the major tourism-industry groups said it is seeking tax breaks for conventions and trade shows, which it believes will help revive business travel.

Domestic leisure travel in the US has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but business and international travel have not fully rebounded. From early 2020 through last December, spending in the US on travel has dropped by a cumulative $730 billion, and many jobs in the sector have not come back, according to the US Travel Association.

Last month, the United Kingdom dropped a requirement for vaccinated travellers to pass a Covid-19 test before boarding a flight to the country. Travel groups are asking the Biden administration to similarly ease current US rules, saying it would boost international flying.

Tori Emerson Barnes, executive vice-president of the travel association, said people are reluctant to book international trips if there is a chance that the could get stranded and unable to return home if they test positive for the virus.

Industry officials also note that airlines saw a bump in bookings after the US eliminated country-specific bans on travel in November, and the predict that the same will happen if the US drops its pre-departure testing requirement.

The testing rule does not apply to flights within the US.

Government figures suggest that surges in Covid-19 caused by new variants of the virus have played a bigger role than testing requirements in discouraging travel.

From a low point in April 2020, the number of people travelling to, from or within the United States compared with 2019 rose every month until last August and September, when the delta variant hit.