Date Published: 19/05/2020
ARCHIVED - Three German tourists sent back home after flying to Palma de Mallorca
ARCHIVED ARTICLE The two men and one woman were put back on an outward flight after being refused entry into Spain
Image: De Wusel007: The airport in Palma de Mallorca
The message that only residents of Spain may enter the country has been repeated incessantly by the Spanish government since the borders were first closed, but it appears that the message still isn´t getting through to some people.
On Monday three German tourists who had landed in Palma de Mallorca airport were put on a plane and sent back to Germany after “failing to justify a reason for their journey”.
The two men and one woman had arrived on flights from Cologne, but were not residents and did not fit into any of the categories permitted to land on Spanish soil at the moment, namely health workers, foreign residents, passengers in transit to other destinations, returning Spanish nationals or diplomats, so were refused entry.
Two other German passengers were also refused entry to Mallorca and returned to Germany on Sunday. In March one British national was sent back to the UK fom the same airport for the same reasons.
A press statement from the Government Delegate to the Balearic Islands states that in total 21 travellers attempting to enter the airports of the islands and 38 marine travellers attempting to enter via the ports, have been refused entry and returned to their country of origin since the begining of the crisis.
There has been considerable confusion since the government announced that 13 airports had been designated for international flights, some foreign users of social media thinking that this meant the airports were “open” as normal.
This is NOT correct. NO TOURISTS ARE PERMITTED TO FLY TO SPAIN AT THE MOMENT. The airports are only open for re-patriation flights and indeed most airports have no flights at all coming in as so few airlines are flying to Spain.
The temporary restriction of non-essential trips to Spain from countries of the European Union and associated Schengen countries for reasons of public order and public health has been extended to June 15th.
ALL passengers landing at these airports are obliged to self-quarantine for 14 days, but this does NOT mean tourists can come in and self-quarantine. ONLY those with Spanish residency are permitted to enter the country. Property owners who do NOT have residency are not permitted to enter the country until after the 15th June. It is highly likely that this date will be extended as the current date for the end of the de-escalation process is provisionally set for the 22nd June, although again, this may continue into July.
Spanish nationals will not be permitted to travel between provinces within Spain until the 22nd June, should the Covid case numbers continue to reduce as the Government hopes will be the case. At the moment Madrid is still in phase zero and has not even been permitted to enter phase one, so it is likely that this date will be even later for residents of the capital.
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