Johnson says U.K. hasn’t given up on international trips by May

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to reassure the public that summer holidays are still a possibility, a day after warning that the government may not meet a May 17 goal to reopen borders.

While many popular holiday destinations are struggling with surges in Covid-19 cases, this doesn’t mean the government has given up on next month’s target, Johnson said Tuesday. He had cautioned on Monday that the government will need to track the data and make an assessment on non-essential travel closer to the date.

“We will be saying as much as we can as soon as we can about international travel,” Johnson said in a media-pool interview Tuesday. “I know how impatient people are to book their holidays if they possibly can but we just have to be prudent at this stage.”

Airline and airport executives had slammed Johnson for telling Britons not to plan international trips, accusing him of a lack of clarity and of ushering in more financial harm for the industry. Summer generates a major chunk of revenue, with this year’s season taking on greater importance given carriers, along with hotels and restaurants, already lost one summer to the virus.

Executives also complained that a requirement for arriving passengers to take two coronavirus tests, even from green-lit countries, would drive up the cost of a vacation.

EasyJet Plc Chief Executive Officer Johan Lundgren called for cheaper lateral flow tests, which are less accurate but give quicker results, to be used instead of the gold-standard PCR test to avoid pricing families out of holidays.

Johnson said Tuesday that the government is looking into this option.

“We are going to see what we can do to make things as flexible and as affordable as possible,” he said.