ARCHIVED - Spain will open its borders to British tourists from May 20 according to Spanish Tourism Minister

The Spanish Minister for Trade and Tourism attended the presentation of the new tourism promotional campaign: You Deserve Spain

"British people will be able to come to Spain from May 20".

At the launch of a new €8 million tourism campaign 'You Deserve Spain' ('Te Mereces España') the Spanish Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto revealed that from May 20, British holidaymakers will be able to come to Spain "without PCR requirements".

While the news will be welcomed by millions of Britons who usually holiday in Spain, on their return to the UK they will still be expected to quarantine for 10 days, or five days if they take a negative PCR test on day five, unless the UK Government changes its own entry requirements.

The UK government recently introduced a ‘traffic light’ system setting out the restrictions in place for travelling to different countries when international movement re-opens on May 17, and Spain is on the amber list for the first three-week period, which covers the time from May 17 onwards .

However, Maroto remains optimistic, and said she is confident that in the next review of the UK Covid traffic light, Spain will move to the green list meaning self-isolation won't be necessary. 

"We know what we have to do so that the British can travel to Spain: continue vaccinating and lower the incidence," she said. 

But the lists will only be updated every three weeks, which means travellers will have to wait until at least June 7 to find out if Spain has made it onto the green list.

📢La ministra de Turismo @MarotoReyes y el director general de @Turespana_, Miguel Sanz, han presentado la campaña ‘Te mereces España’, destinada a reforzar el posicionamiento de nuestro país como el primer destino vacacional de los principales mercados emisores.#YouDeserveSpain pic.twitter.com/5QkmBcsoqx

— Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo (@mincoturgob) May 12, 2021

At the moment, the Spanish government has imposed a ban on travellers from third countries, ie those outside of the Schengen zone and EU, from entering Spain other than for essential reasons, which is in place until May 31. The comments made by the Minister seemed to indicate that this would be lifted, but no confirmation of this has been forthcoming since the comments were made.

Today, readers flying into the Costa Blanca confirmed that their Easyjet flight for the first week of June had just been cancelled, so in spite of the announcement, there is still uncertainty for would-be travellers.

Last summer, Spain's tourism sector suffered a devastating drop of 80 per cent in international holidaymakers, from 83.5 million tourists in 2019, as a direct result of the pandemic. 

So hopes are high that 2021 will see a significant recovery, with Maroto predicting Spain will welcome 45 million tourists this year.

"It is realistic to recover half of the international tourists we received in 2019," she said.

Prior to the Covid crisis, Spain was the world's second-largest tourist destination. 

And in a bid to re-establish itself as a major player once again, the government has invested millions in its summer promotional campaign, confident that the acceleration of the country's vaccination process will affirm Spain's image as a 'safe destination'.

The publicity drive is predominantly aimed at the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Poland and Sweden.

And Maroto took the opportunity at the launch to stress the importance of British travellers to the Spanish tourism sector, urging the authorities to allow visits to areas of low incidence, such as the Valencia region which has a cumulative incidence of under 40 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Following the ending of the State of Alarm on May 9, Spanish residents are now free to move around the country; the only issue currently causing mass confusion is the complicated structure through which the regional governments can request the Spanish courts grant them exceptional permission to impose border closures or additional measures in their respective region.

In some instances permission is being refused, and in others granted, the result being that some small, local communities remain confined;  In general, most of Spain is now fully open, with minor restrictions at regional level.