LONDON (AP) — The British government announced Monday that it is scrapping *********** travel testing requirements for the vaccinated, news hailed by the travel industry as a big step back to normality.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that “to show that this country is open for business, open for travelers, you will see changes so that people arriving no longer have to take tests if they have been vaccinated, if they have been double vaccinated.”

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the change would take effect Feb. 11, coinciding with a midterm holiday break for many schoolchildren.

“Border testing of vaccinated travelers has outlived its usefulness,” Shapps said. “Today we are setting ******* free.”

Tourism and travel firms that have been hammered by ******** restrictions welcomed the move, which makes the U.K. one of the most open countries in the ***** for international travel.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of ******* industry body Airlines U.K., said it was “a landmark day.”

“Nearly two years since the initial ***** restrictions were introduced, today’s announcement brings international travel towards near-normality for the fully vaccinated, and at last into line with hospitality and the domestic economy,” he said.

Johan Lundgren, chief executive of budget ******* easyJet, said “testing for travel should now firmly become a thing of the past.”

“It is clear travel restrictions did not materially slow the spread of omicron in the U.K. and so it is important that there are no more knee-jerk reactions to future variants,” he said.

Currently, travelers who have had at least two vaccine doses must take a rapid *********** test within two days of arriving in the U.K. Those who are unvaccinated face stricter testing and quarantine rules.

Testing requirements are being lifted for vaccinated adults and all children under 18. ******* is also easing rules for the unvaccinated, who will have to take *********** tests before and after traveling to ******* but will no longer face quarantine.

Johnson’s Conservative government is also lifting **** mandates and other restrictions this week, and is relying on vaccinations and widespread testing to keep the ***** in check.

The U.K. government sets public health policy for England. The other parts of the U.K. — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — set their own health rules, but said they would adopt the same rules as England for international travel.

*********** cases in ******* soared in December, driven by the extremely transmissible omicron variant, though hospitalizations and ****** have remained well below previous ******** peaks.

******* has seen over 154,000 ****** in the ********, the second-***** toll in Europe after ******.