Senior industry leaders from the US Travel Association and Airlines for America met with government officials at the White House on Tuesday (31 May) to reiterate the need to scrap the rule.

US Travel Association resident and chief executive Roger Dow said it was “long past time” for testing to be ditched, arguing America’s travel sector “remains disproportionately harmed” by the requirement “even though the science no longer supports it”.

“Other countries with whom we directly compete for global travellers have removed their pre-departure testing requirements and reopened their tourism economies, putting the US at a serious competitive disadvantage for export dollars,” said Dow.

According to a recent survey of vaccinated travellers in France, Germany, the UK, South Korea, Japan and India, more than half (54%) said the “added uncertainty” of potentially having to cancel a trip due to US pre-departure testing requirements would have a negative impact on their likelihood to visit.

Dow added how since the US federal government does not require negative tests for entry at land borders with Canada and Mexico, it “no longer makes sense” to keep the testing rule in place for those arriving by air.

“While inflation continues to soar, the administration can take an immediate step in jolting America’s recovery efforts by repealing this outdated requirement,” he said.