The travel industry received some long-awaited news last week when the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced it was lifting its requirement for travellers to test negative for COVID-19 before entering the country. On the heels of this news MMGY Travel Intelligence, a trusted source for travel and tourism data, surveyed 774 Americans and 436 Britons on June 12, 2022.

The survey reveals 36% of Americans are more likely to travel outside the U.S. within the next six months because the testing requirement has been lifted. 44% of Americans said the news does not impact their intent to travel internationally at all and 20% of those surveyed said they are less likely to travel internationally in the next six months without the testing requirement in place.

52% of British respondents said they are more likely to book a trip to the U.S. in the next six months because the COVID-19 testing requirement has been removed.

“The travel industry has been lobbying for this restriction to be lifted for months because the scientific data did not support a need for it,” said MMGY Global CEO Clayton Reid. “This is now the removal of an important barrier for continuing international travel recovery, both inbound and outbound U.S.  However, our industry still needs to monitor how inflation and concerns around safety and social unrest are impacting travelers’ decisions. In our data, these are very real challenges.”