The Northern Ireland Executive has agreed that as of 24 May 2021 non-essential travel will be permitted from Northern Ireland to other parts of the Common Travel Area (CTA) consisting of the UK, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.
The Executive also retained its existing guidance on self-isolation but added 2 new exemptions:
- Visits to family and friends
- Persons who have completed mandatory quarantine on arrival at a point of entry elsewhere in the CTA and have then traveled directly to NI
However: Persons exempt from self-isolation will be asked to take a pre-departure lateral flow test, to be repeated on days 2 and 8 post-arrival in NI.
Public health advice for persons entering NI from within the CTA who are planning to remain in NI for at least 24 hours is: self-isolate for 10 days unless exempt.
The Northern Ireland Hotels Federation has taken the position that these complicated rules about exemptions, testing and self-isolation place NI hotels at a significant disadvantage by reducing the market to which they can promote, and bring business viability into question.
