A ban on British tourists travelling to Germany is to be lifted, the German embassy has announced.

From midnight on Tuesday, January 4 – or 11pm Monday UK time – people coming from the UK who are fully vaccinated or who have an important reason for travelling will be allowed to enter the country.

Those who are fully vaccinated will not need a negative Covid test or need to quarantine for 14 days, the embassy said.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps described it as a “welcome development from our German colleagues”.

Germany announced earlier this month it was tightening restrictions on travel from the UK in an attempt to curb the spread of the Omicron variant.

The rules, which came into force on December 19, banned carriers such as airlines transporting British tourists to Germany.

Only German citizens and residents, their partners and children, and transit passengers, were allowed to travel to the country from the UK and anyone entering Germany needed a negative PCR test and was required to quarantine for 14 days, regardless of vaccination status.

France imposed similar restrictions for UK travellers from December 18.