Spain set to negotiate travel corridors with UK
Spain’s foreign minister seeks a more relaxed approach to the Canary and Balearic islands
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Your support makes all the difference.Spain has announced plans to create safe travel corridors despite having the fastest rise in daily confirmed cases of coronavirus in Europe.
In a bid to relieve the popular destination’s devastated tourism industry, Arancha González Laya, the country’s foreign minister, has said that Spain intends to negotiate with the UK, Germany and Scandinavian countries to open up travel corridors to the Spanish Balearic and Canary islands without the need for visitors to quarantine upon return to their home country, El Pais reported.
Although the peak holiday season is drawing to a close on the Spanish mainland, the Canary Islands, located off the west coast of Africa, are now entering their busiest period.
After meeting with her Italian counterpart, Luigi Di Maio, in Milan, González Laya said: “Our wish is to restore the tourist flows as soon as possible.
“It is an extremely important issue for the Canary Islands which, unlike other Spanish territories, have a winter tourism season.”
“Opening travel corridors such as the ones we will negotiate with Britain could help them relaunch tourist activity,” she added.
The minister said she approved of the UK’s decision to look at individual territories rather than entire countries when implementing quarantine restrictions.
This follows a recent decision to introduce self-isolation measures for some UK travellers returning from a handful of Greek islands, but not the Greek mainland.
Spain, the Canary and Balearic Islands were all removed from the UK’s “safe” list of countries at the end of July, with Brits returning from these destinations subject to quarantine measures of 14 days.
Earlier this week, Spain became the first western European country to record more than half a million coronavirus cases, reporting a total of 525,549 infections.
The country has the fastest rise in daily confirmed cases in Europe, following a surge in infections following the return of millions of children to school.
Despite having a lower incidence of Covid-19 cases, the Canary Islands have been subject to country-wide restrictions on travel to Spain imposed by foreign governments.
Fernando Simón, the head of Spain’s centre for health emergencies, has acknowledged the rise in infections, but emphasised that half of these new cases are asymptomatic and more than half are in people aged under 40.
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