UK and Spain discuss ‘air corridors’ for tourists - report

The UK and Spain are in talks to try to secure a way for British tourists to go on holiday to Spain without having to go into quarantine when they return to the UK,

According to inews, the UK and Spanish governments were discussing the possibility of setting up 'air corridors' which mean holidaymakers will not have to undergo quarantine when they returned to the UK.

This comes after Gibraltar tabled “specific proposals” to the UK Government in a bid to obtain an exemption for the Rock from the 14-day quarantine rules.

A decision has yet to be made in both cases.

Britain, the main source of tourism for Spain, will introduce a quarantine for new arrivals to the UK as from June 8, including returning Britons, inews reported.

Travellers will have to self-isolate for 14-days and face fines up to £1,000 if they breach the rules.

Spain will lift a quarantine on foreign tourists from July 1 in a bid to revive its tourism sector.

Mayors in popular tourist resorts are concerned that if British holidaymakers have to go into isolation for two weeks when the return to the UK, it will put them off travelling.

Toní Peréz, the mayor of Benidorm, told inews: “The quarantine the British government has announced, which will be revised after three weeks and includes high fines for people who flout the rules, is causing a lot of uncertainty.”

“No-one knows how long it could last and that is having an effect on last-minute holiday reservations and cancellations and that is something that is worrying us.”

Reyes Maroto, the Spanish tourism minister, speaking at a press conference said: “We are working with our European partners on the conditions of this opening. It is necessary to have guarantees of security and the controls on frontiers have to lift in the zones where the evolution of the epidemic is favourable.”

Additionally, Portugal was in talks with the UK Government to secure an air corridor for tourists that would allow British visitors to avoid a Covid-19 quarantine when they return home, Reuters has reported.

In 2019, more than 16 million foreign tourists visited Portugal, almost 20 per cent of them from Britain. The sector accounts for 15 per cent of the country's GDP.

Last year 18 million Britons went on holiday to Spain, for whom the tourist sector represents 12 per cent of GDP.