Balearic Islands added to Northern Ireland’s green travel list

Travellers arriving in Northern Ireland from several popular holiday destinations, including the Balearic Islands, will no longer need to self-isolate, the Executive has announced.

The popular Spanish islands include Ibiza, Menorca and Mallorca.

A number of other hotspots added have been added to Northern Ireland’s green list – such as Barbados, Bermuda, Grenada, Madeira and Malta.

The change in status comes into effect at 4am on June 30.

Travel industry workers and leaders held demonstrations across the UK on Wednesday, calling for restrictions to be eased.

The Westminster Government is also expected to update England’s travel lists on Thursday. The UK nations’ lists are closely linked.

Northern Ireland also made additions to its red list, which involves returning travellers having to stay at a quarantine hotel.

The affected countries are the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Haiti, Kuwait, Mongolia, Tunisia and Uganda.

Here is a full list of locations moved to the green list by Northern Ireland:

Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Balearic islands
Barbados
British Antarctic Territory
British Indian Ocean Territory
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Dominica
Grenada
Madeira
Malta
Montserrat
Pitcairn Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands

Huw Merriman, who chairs the Commons’ Transport Select Committee, said the changes are “a move in the right direction”, but warned that travel to amber list countries is “still unnecessarily difficult”.

He cited NHS Test and Trace figures showing only a handful of passengers returning from amber list destinations are testing positive for coronavirus.

The Government must “apply its own logic of using the data” and enable fully-vaccinated people returning from those locations to be exempt from quarantine requirements, he said.

“They must consider this in time for the start of the July summer holidays.”

On the prospect of taking a holiday abroad this summer, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his plans are “at the unformed stage”, adding: “I’m certainly not ruling it in or ruling it out.”