Spain to end ban on unvaccinated UK tourists in ‘a matter of days’, says minister

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A Spanish government official has suggested that Spain’s strict ban on unvaccinated travellers from non-EU countries could end in “a matter of days”.

The country’s Madrid minister, Reyes Maroto, told Spanish radio station Onda Cero on Thursday that plans were imminent for unvaccinated adults from third countries like the UK to be able to enter with a PCR test result.

Ms Maroto said: “It will be a matter of days before we are going to eliminate a restriction that could be discouraging tourists from outside the European Union from visiting us, and that is that we are going to stop requiring the vaccination certificate to allow them to enter with a negative test.”

At present, only vaccinated travellers aged 18 and over may visit Spain, with proof of vaccination but no need to test or quarantine. Children 11 and under are exempt from the rule, while children 12-17 may provide a PCR test result instead of proof of vaccination.

While no official government announcement has been published, Ms Maroto’s comments will be welcomed by Britons who hope to travel to Spain this summer.

In early April, Spain’s tourist board said the country would open up to all UK travellers with immediate effect, adding that unjabbed visitors would be able to enter with a negative pre-departure test.

But eight hours later they reversed the announcement: travellers were told this was incorrect, and that the update had resulted from an error of interpretation of an official state bulletin.

Spain’s ban on unvaccinated arrivals began on 1 December, amid fears around the Omicron variant of Covid-19. Since then, Spain has retained some of the strictest entry rules in Europe.

While some 15 destinations have dropped all Covid-related restrictions in recent weeks, Spain and Italy both said last week that they would keep their guidelines, including mask wearing on public transport, once the EU ended its mask mandate for planes.

Spain is the most popular destination for British travellers. In 2019, the nation welcomed 18.1 million visitors from the UK – an average of 50,000 arrivals per day.