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By Ben Makori
LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The boss of London's Heathrow
Airport told Britain on Monday to rebuild confidence in travel
by making it easier to go abroad, as speculation grew that the
government was poised to slap yet more new rules on arrivals.
Britain reopened its borders to large parts of the world on
Monday, scrapping quarantine for fully vaccinated arrivals from
the European Union and the United States, in a boost for
airlines and travel companies brought to their knees by the
pandemic.
But just as families and business travellers arrived at
airports like London Heathrow, the industry faced a new headache
over potential COVID-19 warnings against holidays to Spain.
Heathrow's chief executive called on the government not to
throw new barriers in the way of travel just as it finds its
feet again.
"Let's just make it easier now for people to travel," he
told Reuters in the arrivals hall.
"I think we just need to keep things simple. We need to
build confidence in travel."
Heathrow, like many airports and airlines across the world,
is forecasting that it will be two to three years before travel
returns to pre-pandemic levels.
Britain has one of the fastest vaccination programmes in the
world but the government has prevented the travel industry from
bouncing back because of its maze of different rules and last
minute changes blocking trips to certain countries.
In the latest twist, The Times reported on Monday that the
government plans to warn holidaymakers against visiting Spain,
Britain's most popular holiday destination because of concerns
about COVID-19 there.
Spain could go on a new category of risk for travel, the
"amber watchlist", meaning it could be upgraded to "red" at
short notice, with arrivals having to quarantine in hotels.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Ben Makori; Writing by
Sarah Young, Editing by Kate Holton)
