Pre-departure testing was a feature of travel for much of 2021, and was a cornerstone of the Global Travel Taskforce’s plan to restart international leisure travel last May. It was finally removed on 4 October, only to be reinstated on 7 December owing to the spread of Omicron.

It has since been axed again, effective from Friday (7 January), a decision agents have credited for unlocking vast amounts of pent-up demand for travel. This translated into a busy weekend for the trade, with homeworking giant Travel Counsellors branding Saturday (8 January) "sunshine Saturday".

However, new data from the ONS, published on Tuesday (11 January), reveals that even in November 2021 – a full month after pre-departure testing was scrapped for the first time – there was still significant levels of support for the measure.

In November 2021, 83% of UK residents – rising to 90% of overseas residents – travelling to the UK said they thought Covid-19 testing prior to arrival was "quite important" or very "important".

However, while the proportion of UK resident arrivals who thought pre-departure testing was "very important" fell during the course of 2021 from 73% in February to 45% in August, it was on the up again in the months leading up to the emergence of Omicron, reaching 51% in November.

There was a similar decline among overseas resident arrivals last year, although the proportion who thought pre-departure testing was "very important" never fell below 50%, and recovered to 56% in November suggesting the measure was more important to overseas residents travelling to the UK.

This discrepancy between UK residents and overseas residents travelling to the UK is also highlighted in attitudes towards measures designed to prevent or limit the spread of Covid-19 such as the wearing of face coverings and provision of hand sanitiser, although all such measures have been broadly welcomed by all travellers.

Since February 2021, at least three-quarters of travellers arriving into the UK have consistently told the ONS these measures make them feel safe. In November 2021, 78% of UK residents and 82% of overseas residents said the wearing of face coverings made them feel safe during their journey, while the figure among both groups was 77% for provision of hand sanitiser.

Separate data from the CAA’s passenger survey found 80% of UK residents leaving the UK and 79% of overseas residents were "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the number of travellers wearing face coverings at their departure airport.

Additionally, most travellers are now comfortable with Covid-era travel rules and restrictions, according to the latest ONS data. More than four in five (83%) UK residents arriving in the UK said they found following overseas coronavirus restrictions either "easy" or "very easy" to follow, while 95% of overseas residents said they understood the UK’s Covid restrictions either "quite well" or "very well".