Speaking during a visit to Alicante on Monday (10 May), tourism minister Maria Reyes Maroto said she was hopeful the country would be bumped up onto the UK government’s green list promptly.
Currently, Spain is on the amber list; this means anyone returning to the UK from Spain will have to self-isolate at home for 10 days and take tests on days two and eight.
The UK government will allow some limited international travel from Monday (17 May) to a dozen green list countries and territories, only four of which are viable holiday destinations at this time – Portugal, Israel, Iceland and Gibraltar.
However, its stance will be to discourage travel to amber and red list countries for leisure purposes when international travel restarts from 17 May.
The Foreign Office is currently advising against all but essential travel to mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands, but not to the Canary Islands; it says its advice is based on the current assessment of Covid risks in the Balearics and on the mainland.
The Telegraph has reported the next iteration of the UK government’s green list will likely focus on those countries that narrowly missed out on the initial list, potentially pushing any return to Spain back to late June at the very earliest, but more likely early July.
Reyes Maroto, though, addressing the press for the first time since the UK government revealed its green list on Friday (7 May), said the country would end its ban on British visitors from 20 May, nearly two weeks ahead of schedule.
"It’s excellent news the UK has announced the restart of holidays from 17 May and the travel recommendations to our country have been improved," she said, referring to the FCDO’s change of advice on the Canaries.
She said with the UK government looking to review the traffic light categories every three weeks, she was hopeful ministers would take account of Spain’s vaccination programme and the lower prevalence of Covid-19 infection in the country.
Additionally, The Independent reports Reyes Maroto confirmed the current test requirement for entry into Spain for UK travellers would be removed from 20 May if rates of Covid infection fall below around 50 per 100,000.
