The UK Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA) has welcomed this week’s long-awaited reopening of UK borders to international travellers through the easing of travel restrictions for vaccinated visitors from Europe and the US. It now wants the easing of restrictions to be extended to travellers from even more countries as an influx of foreign visitors will provide a much needed boost to the industry’s recovery.

Whilst the boom in UK staycations has resulted in coastal and countryside accommodation reaching record levels of business, city-based accommodation providers are operating at lower occupancy levels because of the low number of bookings from international tourists and business travellers.

Merilee Karr, chair at the STAA and CEO at UnderTheDoormat, said, “We are of course very happy that the Government has eased the restrictions on entry to the UK for some international visitors who are fully vaccinated. While later than we had hoped, the return of international travellers will start to make a difference to supporting the industry recovery after two summers which have been impacted. The UK still needs a broader approach to a return to cities including business travel to ensure that the full recovery is realised.”