Nicola Sturgeon tells Scots 'don't go on holiday overseas if you don't need to' amid questions over she will follow Boris Johnson's lead and ease quarantine rules for double-jabbed tourists from US and EU

• Nicola Sturgeon said her advice is for people not to go on holidays overseas
• Ms Sturgeon said she wants to resume more foreign travel 'as quickly as we can'
• International travel in Scotland is currently permitted under traffic light scheme

Nicola Sturgeon today told Scots not to go on holiday overseas but admitted that people wanting to see their family do have a 'good reason' to travel. 

The Scottish First Minister said her advice is 'don't go on holiday overseas if you don't need to'. 

But she insisted she wants to resume more foreign trips 'as quickly as we can' as the nation looks ahead to the expected further loosening of lockdown rules on August 9.

Ms Sturgeon's comments came amid questions over whether she will follow Boris Johnson's lead and allow fully-vaccinated tourists from the US and the EU to be spared quarantine.  

The powerful 'Covid O' group of ministers is understood to have agreed that the travel self-isolation requirements can be dropped for some of the UK's major trading partners.  

The policy decision applies to England, but there is an expectation that Scotland and Wales will follow suit.

International travel in Scotland is currently permitted, with countries categorised using a traffic light system. 

But Ms Sturgeon said she does not believe people should be travelling overseas for a holiday as she stressed the need to be 'careful and cautious'. 

She said: 'We want to open up international travel just as we want to open up everything as quickly as we can domestically. 

'But we have got to do that in a careful and cautious way. We are of course in Scotland now having had a difficult resurgence of the virus at the start of this month things are in a much better position. 

'The virus appears to be retreating again but that doesn't happen by accident. 

'It is happening because everybody is continuing to take care, be cautious, do all the things that are required to keep this virus at bay. 

'So that will continue to be our watch words as we get through the hopefully final phases of all of this.'

Ms Sturgeon admitted some people do have a 'good reason' for wanting to travel and conceded many believe it is 'not fair' for them to be told not to do so. 

She said: 'I know when people like me talk about international travel, people who hear that and think that we are just thinking about people going on holiday but who have family overseas that they haven't seen for a long time feel that that is not fair on them. 

'I am really conscious of the fact that yes, right now, difficult though this is, my advice to people is don't go on holiday overseas if you don't need to. 

'But we know that there are reasons, good reasons, why people do want to be able to travel more to see loved ones and therefore the sooner we can get that back to normal the better. 

'But as with everything in this virus, desperate though we all are, me included, to get back to normality as quickly as possible, if we do these things too quickly or if we don't put in place the proper safeguards and mitigations, what we risk doing is setting everything backwards.

'So there is always a difficult but really important balance that we have got to strike.'