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WTTC: Government should foot the bill for PCR tests
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is calling on the UK government to pay for ‘hugely expensive and unnecessary’ PCR tests for fully vaccinated travellers.
It follows news that the Health Secretary Sajid Javid questioned the ‘excessive pricing and exploitative practices’ of some PCR test firms, asking that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigate.
There are vast differences paid by travellers for PCR tests by different companies, WTTC says.
PCR tests cost an average £75, although express PCR test results within 90 minutes can cost up to £400.
This makes UK PCR tests among the costliest in Europe, it says, due to VAT.
It’s time the government stepped up to pay for PCR tests in full, for fully jabbed travellers.
This would eliminate the huge financial burden, which is depressing demand for travel.
The government is collating data from PCR tests to rapidly identify variants of concern but WTTC questions why consumers should have to pay for this.
Virginia Messina, WTTC Senior Vice President and Acting CEO, said: "For many people -especially families and small businesses on a budget – the crippling added cost of the unnecessary PCR tests makes the difference between being able to travel or not."
"It’s clear that many adults simply can’t afford to travel overseas at all if they have to pay the excessive cost of PCR tests."
"If the government wants extra information for genomic sequencing – they should pay for it."
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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