Date Published: 11/03/2021
ARCHIVED - Inter-regional travel banned in Spain over the Easter holidays and San Jose bank holiday
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
Madrid argues against the ban but residents of the capital will not be permitted to head for the coast
Spain’s Interterritorial Health Committee, which consists of representatives from the national government and the 17 regional governments, signed an agreement on Wednesday regarding the anti-pandemic measures which will be in force over the periods from 19th to 21st March (including the feast day of San José on Friday 19th March) and from 26th March to 9th April, which covers the Easter holidays.
The protocol agreed upon by all representatives (except those from the regional government of Madrid) establishes that non-essential travel from one region to another will continue to be prohibited, that the night-time curfew will run at least from 23.00 to 6.00 and that social gatherings will be limited to four people in public indoor areas and six outdoors. In private property the recommendation is that only members of the same household should gather.
This agreement finally puts paid to the notion that domestic tourism may be able to re-start in Spain during Semana Santa, as although travel is permitted within regions (at the discretion of each regional government) it will not be possible for the residents of Madrid to flock en masse to the Costas, as many of them usually do at this time of year. The Madrid government has already stated that it will not consider its boundaries closed over the holiday period, but with all of the neighbouring regions adhering to the agreement signed on Wednesday the residents will effectively not be able to leave without breaking the law.
All regions have agreed to abide by these rules, except Madrid, and it remains to be seen whether larger regions such as Andalusia, which has eight provinces, or Valencia which has three, will permit movement between provinces during this period.
Murcia is a smaller region of only one province, so murcianos are likely to be able to move freely around within the region amngst the 45 municipalities, but not to cross the border, for example, into neighbouring Alicante or Almería.
However, the incongruous situation exists that travellers from other EU countries are still able to cross borders, so French property owners, for example, where the rate is currently increasing dramatically once again, will be able to fly from Paris to Madrid for a holiday break, but Madrilenean families who own property on the coast, will not be permitted to drive to the coast for a week.
It's widely expected that many enterprising families will find back routes through which to travel as they did last year, and that the rules for gathering will be disregarded again and that Easter will be followed by a resurgence in new cases ; 12,000 people died in Spain during the third wave following Christmas and virologists are warning that the same will happen again after Easter if care is not exercised.