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ARCHIVED - Spain bans domestic travel at Easter but foreign tourists can enter the country
EU nationals can head for the Costas while residents of Madrid have to stay at home
The differing regulations applied within EU member states has led to a curious situation arising regarding travel and tourism over Easter, when in theory at least, tourists will be able to visit Spain but those already living in the country will not be allowed to travel from one region to another.
This allowance of limited international tourism does not apply to visitors hoping to travel from the UK, Brazil and South Africa due to the emergence of more contagious strains of Covid-19 in those countries, and the ban on entering Spain, but both in the Canary and Balearic Islands and in the mainland regions of Spain foreign tourists will be allowed to visit.
This is because within the EU is still technically permitted, although most governments actively discourage it. In recent weeks there have been reports of Parisians flying to Madrid for the weekend to enjoy the chance to sit in bar terraces (in France hostelries remain closed), and the fact that they are allowed to enter Spain and go to the destination of their choice over Easter will doubtless annoy many Spaniards.
After all, Madrileños will not be allowed to visit their holiday homes on the Costas or in the islands but other European visitors will be permitted – although they are required to demonstrate a negative PCR test in the 72 hours prior to arrival and to remain within the region where they arrive.
The annoyance felt by Spaniards will only be increased by the latest coronavirus data from France, where on Wednesday a further 30,303 cases were confirmed and the official pandemic death toll has reached almost 90,000. In addition, it is reported that as many as 60 per cent of cases in France are now accounted for by the British variant of coronavirus, underlining the risks involved in permitting international travel.
The situation is, to say the least, bemusing. The intention is obviously to avoid a repeat of the increased socializing and travel over Christmas and the New Year which led to the third wave of contagion, but to permit visitors from other countries while banning those living in central Spain from heading for the coast is an apparent contradiction.
In reality it is unlikely that many parts of Spain will see large numbers of visitors from abroad over Easter, with the possible exception of Catalunya due to the border it shares with France. Flights are scarce and while case numbers remain worryingly high in most of Europe the majority of people will be content to ride out Easter and hope for better during the summer.
Murcia should escape the attentions of French visitors as there are no flights directly to its airport, and the likelihood is that most French travellers will plump for Catalonia or the norther n regions where the Pyrenees can be crossed.
But the mere fact that international travel is possible while domestic travel is prohibited is difficult to understand, and for many it may prove even harder to tolerate – especially if the sun shines on the Mediterranean coast over the holidays!
The whole topic of when international leisure travel will resume is complicated and there are contradictory messages coming out all over the place.
The Spanish authorities are keenly aware that in the past tourism has accounted for 12 per cent of GDP in Spain, and that the hostelry and tourism sectors are desperate to get back to work and re-open, but at the same time there is no denying that mobility increases transmission and that Europe is struggling to roll-out its vaccination programme as fast as it would like to, due to the shortage of vaccines.
If the UK was not forging ahead so quickly with its' own vaccine manufactured in the UK, the pressure would not be the same within Europe, as all of Europe would be slowly vaccinating on a slow, but even basis, but the pressure is coming from the UK media, endlessly building up expectations about travelling this summer, every ad. break showing images of summer holidays on sandy beaches.
Yesterday the UK government attempted yet again to reduce expectations, warning that it was still too early to be booking holidays, and although the EU is presenting its plans for a covid passport next week and the Spanish authorities are hinting that Spain is disposed to opening up for tourism in the summer, the fact remains that until the level of vaccines administered throughout Europe is higher, the resumption of international travel may satisfy cravings for a holiday in the short-term, but could create a situation whereby we all have to continue enduring tightened restrictions for a much longer period because new, and more aggressive variants are able to circulate more freely during the summer months.
This is, of course, leading to frustration within Europe about the lack of vaccines, resulting in the spat currently underway between the EU and UK about the fair and equal distribution of vaccines, regardless of where they are manufactured.
In years to come, will we sit back and watch documentaries about this situation and marvel at how the desperation to have a holiday killed so many people and allowed the virus to contiue mutating and spreading......
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