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Half-term boost for holidaymakers as Spain relaxes Covid rules

Britons are expected to head to destination such as Mallorca after the rule change by Spain - Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images
Britons are expected to head to destination such as Mallorca after the rule change by Spain - Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images

Holidaymakers were handed a half-term boost on Friday as Spain said it was preparing to drop its ban on unvaccinated travellers.

Maria Reyes Maroto, Spain’s tourism minister, said it would be a “matter of days” before the country relaxed its rules to allow unvaccinated Britons in as long as they have a negative Covid test.

It had been thought the ban would remain in place until at least June 15 following an extension taking it beyond the summer half-term at the beginning of that month.

The move brings Spain, Britons’ biggest holiday market, in line with France, which allows unvaccinated travellers in without a test, and Italy and Portugal, which let in passengers without jabs but with a negative test. Greece still requires five days’ quarantine for unvaccinated people.

Ms Maroto used a radio interview to make the unexpected announcement of the imminent change to the rules for all holidaymakers wanting to travel to the country from outside the EU, including Britain.

“It’s going to be a matter of days before we eliminate a restriction that could be discouraging tourists from outside the European Union from visiting us,” she said. “We are going to stop demanding the Covid certificate and allow people to enter with a negative Covid test.”

Confirming that a negative test would be the only entry requirement once the planned change took effect, she added: “The world sees us as a safe destination, and 92 per cent of the Spanish population is vaccinated.

“Tourism is recovering here at rates that would have been difficult to imagine in January. Today that recovery is a reality. Tourism is the lever for economic growth this year.”

The key modification is expected to lead to a surge of last-minute bookings by Britons who were resigned to missing out on a Spanish summer holiday because of their vaccination status.

Children were exempted from the vaccination ban, but it applied to all adult holidaymakers coming from the UK – although they could enter by showing a Covid recovery certificate. Some 87 per cent of Britons have had a second jab.

The mandatory use of face masks in indoor public places in Spain was lifted last month following the ending of other Covid restrictions including limits on business opening hours.

In March, 826,000 UK visitors travelled to Spain, taking the number entering the country in the first three months of the year to 1.76 million.