Extra Covid tests for holidaymakers returning to Wales

‘This is the year to take your holiday in Wales’ – Mark Drakeford, first minister

Home comforts: the Maritime Quarter in Swansea (Simon Calder)

The first minister of Wales has urged people not to go abroad, even though the ban on international travel is lifted from Monday 17 May.

Mark Drakeford told BBC Breakfast: “Foreign travel is better avoided.”

He said Wales had adopted the the same "traffic light” system as England, with the same 12 countries on the “green list”.

But he said: "We are going to institute some additional measures for people returning from some of those green countries – the ones where the figures are still at the margin of whether or not travel should be allowed.

“When people from those they will get some extra assistance from our public health authorities, some additional access to testing to make sure that if people do decide to travel to those destinations, we can all be confident that they are safe when they return.

“Portugal would certainly be one of them.”

Mr Drakeford also mentioned Israel and Singapore, but neither of these nations allows UK holidaymakers.

He said: “The decision to put them on the green list was more marginal.”

Wales is able to make its own decisions on quarantine, but the first minister said the open borders within the UK made them difficult.

“In a sheer practical sense, when airports in England are open, an instruction to people in Wales not to travel would simply be unenforceable.

“Most people who travel from Wales will be doing it from Bristol or Manchester or London.

“Once those airports are open and travel across the United Kingdom is allowed, then people from Wales will be able to travel. So there’s no point issuing an instruction that can be enforced.”

The first minister urged people to take domestic holidays instead.

“My clear advice to people in Wales has been: this is the year to take your holiday in Wales.

“We have fantastic opportunities in Wales to take a holiday. This is the year to take advantage of them.”

He said indoor attractions such as museums, galleries and theatres will be able to reopen from Monday.