Those desperate for a summer holiday will have their wishes granted as new travel advice will change to allow travel abroad from Saturday.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will exempt a number of countries from its advisory against all non-essential travel – which has been in place since March 17 – from July 4.

Then from July 10, holidaymakers travelling back into England from certain destinations will not have to go into 14-day self-isolation as the government is changing its quarantine rules from July 10.

Spain, France, Italy and Germany will all have the quarantine policy lifted, the Department for Transport announced. A further swathe of countries to be exempt from the quarantine rules are due to be announced later today.

The combined changes means people in England who leave on Saturday and spend at least six days in certain locations will not need to self-isolate on their return.

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The full list of countries deemed to pose ‘a reduced risk to the public health of UK citizens’ – published later today – will be kept ‘under constant review’ so that self-isolation measures can be re-introduced if health risks increase.

There was speculation the initial list could feature as many as 75 countries, such as those in the European Union, British territories including Bermuda and Gibraltar, as well as Turkey, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.

But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps this morning said travellers to England from around 60 countries and overseas territories will no longer have to quarantine when they arrive in the UK.

He told Sky News: ‘There will be a list of 50-plus countries. If you add in the overseas territories (there will be) 60-something-or-other that will be announced later today.

‘France, Germany, Italy and Spain will be on that list. It is really important that we have done this in a very careful and cautious way. The most important thing is to maintain the gains that we have had.’

Ministers failed to guarantee reciprocal arrangements with all the included nations, meaning some may require English holidaymakers to go into quarantine at the beginning of their trip.

They were also unable to convince the devolved administrations to sign off on the overall plan, with the DfT stating that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will ‘set out their own approach’.

The requirement for everyone arriving into the UK – bar a handful of exemptions – to self-isolate for 14 days was introduced on June 8.

It was met with fierce criticism over the impact on the UK’s travel, tourism and hospitality industries.

The DfT said a risk assessment for lifting the quarantine for arrivals into England was conducted by the Joint Biosecurity Centre in consultation with Public Health England and the chief medical officer.

This considered factors for each destination, including the prevalence of coronavirus, the number of new cases and the potential trajectory of the disease. Passengers will still be required to provide contact information on arrival in England.

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency and member of the Quash Quarantine campaign group, said: ‘There are still several obstacles to be overcome, namely ensuring Scotland support the planned changes.

‘But this is a welcome boost for the travel industry at such a critical time.’

A spokesman for trade association Airlines UK said: ‘There’s no doubt quarantine has had a devastating impact on our industry and whilst it’s welcome the Government has removed its blanket ban, we would encourage rigour and science is applied in all future decisions surrounding our businesses.’

An Abta spokesperson said the lifting of quarantine rules in England ‘will be greeted with huge relief’ by the travel industry.

They added: ‘Getting the balance of health risk and economic risk is a difficult challenge, and we strongly support the Government in taking this initiative.

‘There will be some changes to people’s travel experiences because of the health and safety measures in place to limit Covid-19, and it will be important going forward that customers speak to their travel provider so that they can book and travel with confidence.

‘And, of course, continued access to overseas destinations depends on our keeping Covid infection and transmission rates low in this country, so everyone should continue to heed public health guidelines.’

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