Merriman said the changes, announced on Monday (24 January) lunchtime by Boris Johnson and later detailed in parliament by transport secretary Grant Shapps, were evidence "people should feel confident to book with certainty".
Shapps told MPs the changes would come into effect from 4am on Friday 11 February.
Under the new rules, vaccinated travellers will still have to fill in a Passenger Locator Form (PLF), but he insisted this would be simplified and, from the end of February, travellers would be afforded an extra day to complete it.
In further changes, unvaccinated travellers will not be required to self-isolate or take a Day 8 test but will need to fill out a PLF to demonstrate proof of a negative Covid test taken two days before they travel and they must still take a post-arrival PCR test.
Addressing Shapps in the House of Commons, Merriman demanded Shapps “ensure” the travel sector would not be “made an example of” should new Covid variants emerge and restrictions be reintroduced.
He urged the government to “continue to support international travel and all those fantastic people who work within it”.
In response, Shapps agreed it was right the government should update its policy on international travel as the pandemic “becomes endemic”.
“We’re looking to work within a new toolbox that will help set out a framework. We will always act quickly, of course we will, but I believe the of days having to go back to big lockdowns at the border are [a thing of the] past,” he said.
Labour’s shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh attacked the government’s “haphazard approach” to travel and its lack of sector-specific support afforded to industry businesses.
“It’s baffling the government did not do more to support this as a strategic sector,” she told MPs.
“Too often government’s chaotic and indecisive approach to each wave of Covid infections has failed to keep the country safe, while causing uncertainty for the travelling public and for business.”
Haigh urged Shapps to deliver a “comprehensive and easily understandable” plan when he sets out his strategy for the future of international travel next month and demanded he publish the data guiding the government’s approach to future variants.
“Businesses and the public should have clarity on what changes the government will likely make in the event of a new variant – not have to wait until 5pm on a Saturday night for new measures required on a Monday morning.”
Labour MP and transport select committee member, Ben Bradshaw, asked why the “very complicated” PLFs was being kept.
“I hope he’s not just keeping it because he’s relaxing the rules for the unvaccinated,” he said.
Shapps replied: “It is our only way of distinguishing between somebody who is vaccinated and unvaccinated if they are to use e-gates when they come into this country.”
