Israel has welcomed the first British group of tourists since the Covid-19 outbreak as part of its process of gradually reopening borders to vaccinated international visitors.

The British group, flying to Israel with British Airways, consists of 30 people and will be in Israel for a period of ten days, visiting places such as Jerusalem, Nazareth, Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, Tel Aviv and Jaffa.

Upon their arrival at the terminal, the tourists were greeted by Israel ministry of tourism representatives, who escorted them through the routine immigration and recently added PCR tests mandated by Israeli law for all incoming passengers.

The country is in the process of running a pilot for vaccinated tour groups, in order to determine the best way to reopen its skies to vaccinated foreign visitors.

Due to the successful vaccination programme thus far, it is expected that Israel will allow entry for individual vaccinated travellers as soon as July 1st.

Israel is a world leader in the vaccination rollout, with some 85 per cent of its adult population inoculated.

As a result, it has curbed the spread of Covid-19 and recently announced that the requirement for masks to be worn indoors has been lifted, marking the end of one of the last major coronavirus restrictions remaining in Israel.

Sharon Bershadsky, director of the Israel Tourist Office UK, said: “We are delighted to welcome the first organised British tourist group to visit Israel in over a year.

“Israel has always been an attractive destination for British travellers, with unparalleled historic and religious sites sacred to three religions, vibrant cities, delicious food and friendly people.

“With Israel one of the few countries on the green list and with Israel set to open up further to international tourists ahead of the summer, we hope that this group will be the first of many to come holiday in Israel.”