NORTHERN IRELAND HAS lifted quarantine requirements for those travelling from abroad, opening the possibilities of foreign tourism in and out of the region.

Yesterday, the Stormont Executive agreed to change travel regulations that meant those travelling from outside the Common Travel Area needed to self-isolate for 14 days. 

The UK government has published a list of dozens of countries - including Ireland, Spain, Australia and Canada – where public health advice against “all but essential travel” is now exempt.

Travellers returning to Northern Ireland from more than 50 countries will not need to quarantine from today. England and Wales is also lifting the mandatory quarantine restrictions for travellers coming back from those countries; while the Scottish Government produced a list of just 39 countries where there are exemptions.

This is a rolling list, which will be updated as time goes on: already it has changed its list of countries to remove Serbia from its list of exemptions, citing the reason as due to “the latest assessment of Covid-19 risk”. 

The list included popular destinations such as Spain, Germany, France and Italy, but Portugal was one of the notable omissions (only The Azores and Madeira are exempt).

While between 40% and 54% of Spaniards would disprove of tourists from a group of European nations, the figure rises to 61% for those from the UK, a YouGov poll indicated.

The opposition of UK holidaymakers is 58% in Germany, 55% in France and 44% in Italy. Each country would be more welcoming to other European nations, according to the research.

Ireland is planning to publish its own ‘green list’ of countries: it had been intended to be published by 9 July, but the Cabinet has stalled the decision until Phase 4, 20 July.

Taoiseach Mícheál Martin said that the list would be reviewed every two weeks:

Essentially what we’re saying here is countries that have the same disease status as Ireland, or similar to Ireland, will be on that green list, whereby you would be advised that you can travel safely to those countries.

- with reporting from the Press Association