BRITISH nationals and UK residents in general will be allowed to visit Spain from today (Sunday, June 21) without going through 14 days of quarantine, minister for foreign affairs Arancha González Laya has announced.
The 'direct entry' will be in line with procedures for all European Union and Schengen countries, even though the UK is neither – it has never belonged to the latter, and formally left the EU on January 31 this year, although until New Year's Eve it is treated as a member as it remains in transition.
Sra González Laya (pictured) says Spain will carry out a 'triple test' – checking the departure point of incoming visitors is on the 'safe' list; temperatures taken at the airport upon arrival, and the passenger's data and contact details taken to ensure authorities can get in touch with them in the event of a Covid-19 case being confirmed in someone who has been near them.
The possibility of imposing a two-week quarantine on British arrivals was raised after the UK government announced it intended to do this with all travellers from Spain, and Spanish authorities considered the idea of 'reciprocal treatment'.
No other EU country has proposed quarantining its visitors from any other member State.
But Spain is mindful of the fact that by far the largest national group of its summer tourists is from the UK, meaning placing any hurdles in the way could harm the industry, and also, more Brits own holiday homes in Spain than those who live in the Mediterranean country year-round.
“We're in talks with British authorities to see whether they intend to do the same [dropping quarantine requirements], out of respect for the 410,000 Brits who own a second home in Spain,” says the foreign affairs minister.
“We want to be sure that we're complying with our commitment to treat British citizens in a similar way to those of other EU member States from an epidemiological point of view.”
In an interview with the BBC reported in Spanish media, the minister said: “We hope British authorities will be sensitive to the quarter of a million Spaniards living in the UK who would like to be able to [visit their families in Spain and return home to Britain] without quarantine.”
Britain is said to be due to review its quarantine requirements for travellers from outside the country on June 29, although it is not clear whether these are likely to be dropped.
They were first introduced on June 8, and the UK government reportedly said it would revisit the rule every three weeks.
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