THE COST OF TESTING IS A HUGE BARRIER FOR THE RECOVERY OF BOTH INBOUND AND OUTBOUND TRAVEL

The latest travel announcement from the UK's Department of Transport states that arrivals from Spain and all its islands are “advised” to use a PCR test as their pre-departure test wherever possible.

Whilst we understand that this is a recommendation and not a legal requirement, the cost of testing still remains a major barrier for travel.

The cost of testing ranges considerably with MoneySavingExpert identifying how tests can add up to £1000 for a family of four.

Katie Crowe from specialist travel insurance company, battleface, says: “Our latest consumer poll carried out by Opinium shows that Britons are prepared to pay £61 per person on average for all required tests to travel internationally.”

She recalls her own personal experience.

“Last week I travelled to Spain from the UK so that I could reunite my two children with their father and the cost of testing for the three for us came to just under £600.00 on top of the travel costs which was a huge financial burden. With quarantine now scrapped for double vaccinated travellers coming from most European countries, and the US, the focus now should be on reducing the cost of testing to enable more families to be reunited and to ensure that travel is not just reserved for the financially privileged. Our data shows that the current costs are a big barrier for the recovery of both inbound and outbound travel”

battleface policies are available and accessible for all, and cover destinations worldwide regardless of their traffic light colour and including those under FCDO advisories against all travel or all but essential travel. This means that if a country is put on the amber plus list, or indeed the red list, the policy would remain valid.

*The study of 2,000 UK adults was carried out in June by Opinium Research on behalf of battleface.