Travel Network Group chief executive Gary Lewis said: “The latest covid travel announcements are a punch in the stomach for the travel industry just as we approach the important Christmas period, the ski season and the traditional January summer holiday booking peak.” 

He said the industry had continually asked for “calm, proportionate responses based on data”.

Lewis said the government should provide “free, easy to access PCR tests” and “stop the enormous costs of hotel quarantine by simply enabling track and trace to allow home quarantine for arrivals from red list countries”.

“We are all very much aware of the dangers that Covid and new strains bring, but without enough data on the omicron variant, blanket testing does feel like a knee-jerk government reaction.”

Trailfinders founder Sir Mike Gooley also slammed the restrictions as “a futile over-reaction”.

“All the early evidence suggests that Omicron is much less likely to cause serious illness even though it appears more infectious,” he said.

“Imposing stringent conditions on international travel makes no sense and does nothing to halt this spread. 

“A survey of my 1,000 plus staff shows that only 1% of our 200-plus confirmed Covid cases were caught abroad – This despite a combined 2,600 trips abroad over the last 20 months. That’s conclusive evidence that holidays are not driving the spread of this virus.”