Spain to welcome Brits back by March with no travel restrictions

SPAIN's latest tourist scheme hopes to welcome Brits back by next March with no travel restrictions or quarantines.

The country is currently off the UK's travel corridor list, apart from the Canary Islands which don't require a quarantine.

All arrivals must have a negative coronavirus test taken 72 hours before travelling to be allowed to enter, with many complaining they cost more than their holiday.

However, Spain authorities hope that these restrictions will no longer be necessary by spring 2021, especially for the Balearic Islands.

Iago Negueruela, the islands tourism minister, explained that safe tourism should start from "from the end of March," adding: "First of all, however, there is the task of positioning, selling and explaining to the world that the islands are a safe destination."

Spain has been one of the worst hit European destinations, with nearly 1.7m cases of coronavirus – behind France, Italy and the UK.

Majorca and Ibiza are some of the most popular holiday destinations for British tourists but have been off the cards since Spain was removed from the travel corridor list earlier this year.

The islands have seen a booking boom already, thanks to the vaccine announcement – Majorca saw holidays jump by 30 per cent.

A local tour operator explained: "Most of the reservations were made for summer 2021, but with discounts on offer for March, April and May we are predicting that the tourist season will be better in 2021, even although it will still be around 50 per cent less than 2019.

"The positive thing is that it will be a big improvement on this year.”

Tour operators have also opened up their package holidays to Spain for summer 2021 in anticipation of demand.

Jet2 and Thomas Cook are offering deals to the islands and the mainland for 2021.

It is still too early to know how the vaccine rollout, starting from this week in the UK, will affect holidays with destinations likely to keep restrictions in place for now.

Cyprus is the first country to allow vaccinated travellers to skip the travel restrictions and mandatory tests.

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