Date Published: 17/03/2021
ARCHIVED - Germans rush to book flights to Spain over Easter as travel ban is lifted
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
Pleas for caution are ignored as the spring sunshine proves too tempting to resist
A partial re-activation of tourism on the Costas and in the islands
While Spaniards look forward to an Easter holiday period during which they are to be confined by pandemic restrictions to the region in which they live, rather than being allowed to coastal areas as many of those in major cities usually do at this time of year, it seems that Germans will be flocking in large numbers to the Costa Blanca and the Balearic and Canary Islands after the government in Berlin removed parts of Spain from the list of areas to which travel is banned.
This situation seems likely to cause considerable resentment among Madrileños craving some spring sunshine, particularly those who own holiday homes on the Costas, but for those involved in tourism in the Canaries, the Balearics, the Comunidad Valenciana, Murcia, La Rioja, Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura the news comes as a first lifeline in the attempt to reactivate one of the most important sectors of the Spanish economy. In theory those arriving from Germany will be obliged to remain in the region of Spain where they arrive and this ought to mean that no Germans will reach, for example, the Region of Murcia, but in practice it is hard to see how they might be prevented from travelling from the nearby airport of Alicante-Elche.
The lifting of the ban on travelling to Spain is accompanied by a plea for caution and restraint, but inevitably it appears that many sun-starved Germans are jumping at the chance to fly south: Easyjet report that bookings on Berlin-Palma de Mallorca flights have soared by 450 per cent in comparison with last week and similar increases are being observed by other companies. TUI has programmed ten flights a day from airports in Germany to Mallorca starting on Sunday 21st March, while Lufthansa has announced that it will be doubling its current 150 scheduled flights over Easter and Ryanair is planning an extra 200 flights between 28th March and the middle of April.
This is not to say that the restrictions on travel have been lifted entirely, and passengers arriving in Spain from Germany will still have to present a negative PCR test result received within the 72 hours prior to landing. However, on returning home they will no longer be required to present another negative PCR or to self-isolate.
Neither is it only the Germans who suddenly find themselves able to travel to Spain with greater freedom: Switzerland has also removed this country from the international travel blacklist, and Easyjet report a 150 per cent increase in flight bookings.
Of course, it is hard to avoid the suspicion that such freedom to travel may be a case of too much too soon, especially after doctors in Germany called for a complete lockdown to be re-imposed over the weekend due to a continuing rise in Covid case numbers: at present the 7-day average is just under 12,000 new cases per day, a long way short of the 26,000 reported over Christmas but around 50 per cent higher than a month ago.
In this context German government spokesman Steffen Seibert has warned that non-essential travel should be avoided, but such is the enthusiasm sparked by the chance to travel to Spain that his words seem to have been in vain.
Last year the number of German tourists visiting Spain dropped from 11.16 million in 2019 to just 2.4 million, half of them arriving in the two and a half months before international travel ground to a halt in mid-March, while the amount they are estimated to have spent in this country fell by 78 per cent to 2.63 billion euros. From March onwards the figures in some months were barely worth reporting as tourism practically closed down apart from a brief reactivation during the summer, underlining the keenness of many to kick-start the sector as soon as possible.