England will allow fully vaccinated visitors from the EU and US to arrive without needing to quarantine from next week, in a huge and long-awaited boost for airlines and travel companies.

Britain’s travel industry has criticised the government for being too slow to open up, saying it has squandered its lead in the global vaccine rollout and given the EU a headstart in attracting tourists.

Now, from August 2, travellers with US and EU-approved vaccines will not have to quarantine. Lifting the same requirement for fully vaccinated Britons returning from medium risk countries in July helped to kickstart a travel recovery.

The new rule applies to England but is widely expected to be followed by the rest of Britain shortly. The government said international cruise sailings could also restart from England.

Airlines, such as British Airways, and Britain’s biggest airport Heathrow, weighed down by cumulative pandemic losses of $4 billion,

welcomed the move but said more was needed if the industry was to recover from the collapse in demand. Top of the list is a reopening of the UK-US travel corridor which is still affected by a ban on all non-US citizens who have been in Britain.