Spain To Introduce Covid Passports As Early As May To Welcome Back Tourists
Spain News
Published: 10 March 2021 15:19 CET
Spain is considering giving the green light to a new Covid-19 vaccine passport scheme in an attempt to welcome back tourists.
In a TV interview with Spanish media channel Antena 3, the country’s tourism minister Maria Reyes Maroto said that the country could introduce the Covid-19 vaccine passport as early as May giving hope to those looking for a summer break.
She said that her plan was to have the digital vaccine passports ready for the international tourism fair, FITUR, on May 19 which will be held in Madrid.
However, Reyes Maroto said that whether the vaccine passports would be rolled out in time would depend on how many of the country’s citizens had been vaccinated and the level of infection rate.
Spain’s Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday that 4,848,648 people had now been vaccinated, with more than 1.4 million having received both vaccine doses.
The ministry has previously indicated that its target is to vaccinate up to 40% of the population by April and 70% by the end of Summer.
Holidaymakers would be required to have had a vaccine and be able to produce a recent negative Coronavirus test before travelling to Spain the minister said.
Under Boris Johnson’s latest road map out of lockdown, UK travellers could be eligible to travel abroad to destinations such as Spain, Greece and Cyprus from as early as May 17 when current restrictions are eased.
The move would mean holidays to the popular Spanish destinations of Majorca and Ibiza would also be on the cards with the regional governments both indicating that they wanted to be the first to welcome holidaymakers back.
Spain has previously reported that they were working with the EU on vaccine passports but also suggested that they would run their own scheme if required in order to get its tourism sector back on track.
Two other popular tourist destinations for British holidaymakers Cyprus and Greece are also keen to open up their countries as quickly as possible.
Cyprus recently announced that it would be welcoming British tourists back from early May with no quarantine restrictions or requirements to produce a negative test, as long as they had received both Covid vaccinations.
And in another added boost, Greece’s tourism minister also announced earlier this week that Brits would be welcome there regardless of their vaccine status. Those who had not had the vaccine would only have to provide a negative test result.
On April 12, the UK’s Global Travel Taskforce will carry out its review into overseas travel which they will present to the Prime Minister.
In an interview with Times Radio, Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps said he was “hopeful” people would be able to travel abroad for the summer but emphasised that there were no “cast iron guarantees”.
“We know you won’t be able to travel until May 17. I would say that it makes sense to see how the course of the pandemic unlock proceeds,” he said.
It comes after Spain announced that it would be extending the current ban on arrivals from Britain, South Africa and Brazil until March 30.
Source
https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/europe/breaking-spain-could-introduce-covid-23656466
https://metro.co.uk/2021/03/10/travel-spain-could-introduce-covid-vaccine-passport-scheme-in-may-14218286/
https://mixmag.net/read/ibiza-tourism-vaccine-passport-open-may-news
Image Credit: J. Ketelaars from Pixabay
