Spain Will Be On UK Green List At Next Review Predicts Tourism Chief
Spain News
Published: 25 May 2021 13:45 CET
Spain’s Tourism Secretary, Fernando Valdes, predicts that Spain will be added to the UK’s ‘green list’ at the next review in June.
Mr Valdes insisted that Spain was doing a ‘great effort’ getting to grips with the virus and that to date, a third of the adult population has received at least one of their vaccinations.
Speaking to Sky News, Valdes said “What I can say is that right now Spain is doing a great effort not only in terms of vaccination, we have at least one third of our whole population with at least one dose.”
“We do have some holiday destinations which are very loved by British tourists such as the Balearic Islands, Costa Blanca or Malaga, with our notification rates which are pretty low and by the same notification range of the UK, so I have to suspect that on the next review that the UK Government can provide... Spain is going to change its notification.”
He also said that he was in “constant communication with the UK government” which is due to publish the next travel list on June 7.
UK travellers saw Spain’s travel restrictions lifted on May 24, with travellers no longer needing to take a PCR Covid test, have proof of vaccination or quarantine on arrival.
It is important to remember though, that Spain is still on the UK Department for Transport’s ‘amber list’, so anyone returning to the UK from Spain must still self-isolate for 10 days plus take a Covid test prior to departure and again on day two and day eight of the isolation period.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that the country would welcome visitors for non-essential travel, and would “be delighted to welcome all British tourists”.
Their comments came as the UK government once again urged Brits not to fly off to amber-list countries for their holidays.
Business Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan reiterated that the UK’s “amber” status meant “please don’t go unless there is an urgent family reason and so on.”
Speaking to Sky News, she said “We are still trying to slowly move through the roadmap to being able to open up on 21 June, and we want to do that in a steady and careful way.”
She added that ‘amber’ countries were “still not meeting the criteria” to allow scientists and the government to deem them a ‘green’ country.
Despite these strong words from the UK government, the number of flights leaving the UK for 'amber list' countries has increased by a massive 300% in the last fortnight.
Aviation analysts Cirium found a total of 1,841 flights were scheduled to fly to France, Greece, Italy and Spain for the two weeks following May 24.
Cirium’s report, which was published in The Observer, said that the increase in flights could see 356,768 passengers entering countries on the amber list.
Despite the Spanish Tourism Minister’s optimism, recent reports suggest that Croatia, France, Greece, Italy and Spain (the major European holiday destinations) are not likely to be added to the green list at the first travel review due to take place the first week of June.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson did, however, reportedly say at a meeting of the 1922 Conservative backbench committee, that “quite a few” countries could be added.
He apparently indicated that “near misses” that were almost appointed ‘green’ initially were likely to make the cut this time around.
The contenders are thought to include Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Fiji, Finland, Granada, Malta, St Kitts and Nevis and Turks and Caicos.
Source
https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/travel/spain-green-list-countries-next-uk-travel-review-update-announcement-1016485
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/spain-green-list-travel-holidays-b1852847.html
