As the 2022 edition of the Brit Guide to Orlando is published, the authors predict “a veritable flood of British visitors” in Florida this year – despite the tough Covid rules imposed by both the UK and the US.

UK travellers were banned from the US for 20 months, with arrivals allowed only from 8 November 2021.

Simon and Susan Veness say: “Having had to close in 2020, Orlando’s theme parks have led a remarkable recovery in recent months, blazing a trail for how to operate both safely and with a high degree of normality.”

Virgin Atlantic says Orlando is proving the most popular of all its US routes.

Walt Disney World marked its 50th anniversary on 1 October 2021, but plans an 18-month celebration of the half-century until early 2023.

Hong Kong is suspending all flights from eight countries, including the UK, from Saturday 8 January due to surging Omicron cases.

The flight ban will be in place for two weeks, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said in an announcement on Wednesday morning.

Inbound flights will also be banned from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, Philippines and the US.

The Department for Transport has confirmed to The Independent it will make a statement today on travel restrictions – but will not say when the announcement will be made.

At the start of November, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, removed the final seven countries from the “red list” requiring hotel quarantine, saying: “This is another step in the right direction for international travel with more good news today for passengers, businesses and the travel sector.”

By the end of the month, the red list was brought back due to fears about the spread of the Omicron variant. Flights from South Africa were cancelled temporarily and 11 African nations were placed on the red list.

For arrivals from anywhere else, mandatory self-isolation was imposed for all arrivals from abroad to the UK, with quarantine until they have a negative PCR test result. A week later pre-departure tests were made mandatory.

While the red list has now been emptied again, the travel restrictions remain in place – adding typically £100 to the cost of a trip and undermining consumer confidence.

Airlines and airports are calling for the UK’s onerous and expensive testing rules to be revoked at an expected review later today.

MAG and Airlines UK, the industry body for carriers, have published new research that they commissioned which suggests that the removal of all testing requirements on international travel this month would not impact the spread of Omicron, now the dominant Covid-19 variant, in the UK.

“Pre-departure and ‘day two’ PCR testing introduced in late November and early December respectively had little to no impact on Omicron case rates in the UK, compared to if the travel policy of a single day two antigen test had stayed the same,” they say.

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