FAMILIES in Wales could be able to enjoy holidays at caravans, bed and breakfasts, and hotels with room service as soon as Easter.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said self-contained accommodation in Wales could reopen in time for the Easter period at Friday's review of coronavirus restrictions.

He said that he had met with the Welsh Government's tourism, adding that "we’ll be having some detailed discussions with them now over the next couple of weeks to see if there’s anything that we might be able to do around the Easter period".

At Friday's briefing, Mr Drakeford said he hoped we were in the last weeks of the "stay at home rule" suggesting it could be lifted at the next review in three weeks.

This would mean, people in Wales could travel to self-contained holiday accommodation in time for Easter.

Speaking to those in the tourism sector, Mr Drakeford said: "We have all come such a long way together. But we still need your help to keep one another and Wales safe."

"We have to keep infections as low as we possibly can.

"In the meantime I look forward to seeing the first green shoots of spring and the first green shoots of recovery from this awful experience."

He added that, although coronavirus rates were generally higher here, North Wales was seeing the same pattern of a downward trend in cases as the rest of Wales.

This means any easing of restrictions in Wales is likely to include North Wales.

Mr Drakeford added: "If we were able to open self-contained accommodation at Easter then a stay at home rule would not work.

"If these are the final three weeks of the stay at home rule then the Government will have to visit those questions over the next three weeks."

Mr Drakeford told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The most that would be would be the reopening of self-contained accommodation where there aren’t shared facilities and there isn’t social mixing.

“But if we could do that – and six weeks is a very long time in this business – if we could do that in six weeks’ time, I know that that would be a boost to the industry and a big boost to hundreds of thousands of families in Wales for whom going down the caravan for a few days or a break would be a very welcome prospect.”

He added: “But Easter is a long way off, and these are very preliminary discussions in the hope of, providing things continue to improve, we’d be in a position to begin the first steps of reopening that industry.”

The First Minister said if things continue as they are there would be more easing of social distancing measures in the coming months - but people should not expect things to return to normal this year.

He said: "I am not ruling anything out entirely. I was asked if I thought that by the end of this year coronavirus will be over and we will all be back living our lives, and sadly I do not think that.

"I think it is much too early to anticipate the way in which we will be able to respond to vaccinating the adult population.

"If we could get back to where things were in the summer and can get back to that earlier this year, I think that will be a very good platform to bring about further easements."