Hairdressers, barbers and most indoor tourist attractions will reopen on Monday, First Minister Mark Drakeford announced today.

In his latest review of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions this lunchtime, the First Minister set out a timetable to ease restrictions on swathes of Wales' hospitality and tourism industries.

From Monday, (13 July) the following will be able to open, subject to following the guidance about coronavirus-safe ways to operate:

•    Hairdressing salons and barbershops, including mobile hairdressers.
•    Pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes outdoors.
•    Outdoor cinemas.
•    Indoor visitor attractions, but a small number of underground visitor attractions will remain closed for the time being because of the higher risks associated with these environments. The Welsh Government will continue to work with these attractions towards safe re-opening.
•    Places of worship. Faith leaders can begin to gradually resume services when they are ready to do so safely.

The beauty sector and other close-contact services – such as tattooists and nail salons – are being asked to begin preparing to reopen from July 27, if the conditions allow.

Mr Drakeford said: “Together we are making good progress to tackle the spread of this virus.

It is thanks to the efforts we have made together that we are able to lift the restrictions and re-open more parts of our society and economy.

“However, the threat from coronavirus has not gone away and only by all of us acting responsibly will we be able to keep Wales safe. This means maintaining social distancing, thinking carefully about where we go and why.”

Immediate changes will come into effect tomorrow (Saturday 11 July) when self-contained holiday accommodation opens.

The Welsh Government is also making changes to the regulations to allow larger gatherings of up to 30 people outdoors only – where these are organised and supervised by a responsible person – for sports and other leisure activities and classes.

This will allow activities such as fitness and dance classes to take place outdoors, as well as collective worship.

From July 20, playgrounds, community centres and outdoor gyms will be able to reopen gradually over the following weeks as and when safety checks and mitigations are put in place – partly to allow community centres to help provide care for children over the summer holidays.

The following sectors are being asked to prepare for re-opening from 27 July:

•    Close contact services, including nail and beauty salons and businesses providing tanning services, massages, body piercings, tattooing, electrolysis or acupuncture.
•    Indoor cinemas, museums, galleries and archive services.
•    Tourist accommodation with shared facilities, such as camp sites, which would open from 25 July.
•    Reopening the housing market fully.

A final decision about reopening these sectors will depend on conditions and feedback from the initial opening of the tourism industry, indoor attractions and hairdressing sector.

Mr Drakeford added: “We have used our headroom to continue re-opening our economy and society in Wales. We have also used part of our headroom to enable the Welsh NHS to provide more essential care and treatment for people – services, which were suspended in March to allow the health service to prepare for coronavirus.

“Our ability to carry on lifting the restrictions rests on everyone in Wales – we need everyone’s help to continue following the rule to keep levels of coronavirus at an absolute minimum.”

The Welsh Government will also make changes to the physical distancing regulations to reflect some of the challenges faced by the hospitality, beauty industry and other sectors where a 2m distance cannot be reasonably maintained at all times.

The law in Wales will continue to make the 2m distance the default position, because this remains the safest way to protect people’s health. But when 2m cannot reasonably be maintained, the regulations will require businesses to put in place a set of additional measures to minimise the risk of the virus spreading, including taking reasonable steps to minimise close face-to-face contact and maintain hygiene.

The next formal review of the regulations is due by 30 July. Detailed discussions about how indoor hospitality can operate in a coronavirus-safe way are ongoing. Options for reopening will be considered from 3 August, if conditions allow.

The Welsh Government is also discussing with local authorities and other operators how gyms, leisure centres, fitness studios and swimming pools can introduce measures to safely open. Further work is being undertaken about the risk of coronavirus in swimming pools.