Recommendation 9

Although the UK has, at the time of writing (April 2022), removed all testing requirements for international travel, many other countries have retained testing requirements. Therefore, some passengers will need to access safe and affordable coronavirus testing options in the near-to-medium term. Government intervention is required to establish a functional market for travel testing to benefit consumers. That intervention should include: a) implementing in full the Competition and Markets Authority’s recommendations for regulating the PCR travel testing market, so that if PCR tests are reintroduced as a travel requirement, the market will function fairly for consumers; and b) tasking the Competition and Markets Authority to review the operation of the market for antigen travel tests to follow the regulator’s September 2021 review of the PCR testing market.