The U.S. Travel Association, together with a coalition of travel and aviation industry groups, urged U.S. health officials and the Biden administration to remove the requirement for pre-departure testing for vaccinated passengers traveling to the United States.

Surveys show that pre-departure testing requirements deter vaccinated persons from traveling, which impede the industry’s overall recovery. In January, the World Health Organization recommended that countries lift travel restrictions, such as testing and quarantines for vaccinated travelers, saying that such policies are unlikely to curb infection rates. Further, cases are declining across the U.S. while immunity levels are rising.  

U.S. Travel had previously called on the administration to ensure that the shortened pre-departure window for testing, which was enacted in December 2021, was a temporary move until more was learned about the omicron variant.