Currently, travellers only need to self-isolate until they test negative within two days of arriving into the country.
Clive Wratten, chief executive of the Business Travel Association, said: "The introduction of pre-departure testing with little warning is a hammer blow to the business travel industry." The trade body added: "The red list extension made complete sense - that's what it's there for - but we know from experience that blanket restrictions do not stop the importation of variants.
Travel association Abta said the re-introduction of pre-departure tests would be "a huge blow" to "an already devastated travel industry". There was already concern in the industry that people's confidence to travel, and to book future trips, would be knocked by the requirement to take a PCR test within 48 hours of arriving in the UK, and the need to self-isolate until a negative result.Also, the addition of another country to the red list comes as some UK residents in South Africa are still struggling to get home, because they can't find quarantine hotel rooms available on the day their flight arrives.