Coronavirus: Spain to open its borders from 21 June

Tourists were back on the beach in Spain today as the country announced it will re-open to British tourists from June 21 – but any UK holidaymakers will face a two-week quarantine when they return home. 

Spain will scrap the travel restrictions on Britain and most of its European neighbours from Sunday, three months after hotels were forced to shut their doors because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Thousands of German tourists are already ahead of the game after they were invited to fly to the Balearic Islands in a trial run for resuming the tourist season in Spain. 

Beaches have also re-opened in Benidorm today, including for British expats, with designated areas for over-70s and spaces marked out for sunbathing. 

Airlines are gearing up for a new wave of British tourists, with easyJet offering cut-price deals and British Airways restoring half of its daily flights to Spain.  

However, the UK Foreign Office is still advising against all ‘non-essential international travel’ – a warning which will invalidate most travel insurance policies if it is ignored – and returning Brits will face quarantine. 

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has brought forward the resumption of the tourist season by 10 days to this Sunday, saying that ‘the recovery of tourist activity is key for this government’.    

It came as borders were thrown open across Europe today as a raft of countries including Germany and France lifted three months of coronavirus checks.  

British expats already in Spain were enjoying Benidorm’s beaces for the first time in three months today as they re-opened with designated areas for over-70s. 

The new rules also include a cap on visitors and a pre-reservation system which will be rolled out further into the summer season.

Sunbathers were watched by supervisors wearing blue tops and face masks who helped direct sunbathers to their spot on the beach.  

Benidorm mayor Toni Perez said: ‘We’re making sure people can enjoy the beach as they’ve always done knowing that these public spaces are protected.

‘It’s a very versatile system. Benidorm is here today to say to the world that it can manage beaches of this size which are capable of giving enjoyment to thousands of people.’

British tourists were told to leave Spain in mid-March when the Spanish government announced that all hotels were closing because of the pandemic. 

Spain was one of the worst-hit countries at the time, piling up more than 8,000 coronavirus deaths in the month of March alone. 

But Spain is now easing out of lockdown and most of the country’s border controls will be lifted for EU member states from Sunday – and the Spanish foreign ministry has confirmed that this includes transition-period Britain. 

‘It’s considered that the UK is included in the announcement and can return to Spain along with EU nationals when border controls are lifted from June 21,’ a statement said. 

According to the Daily Telegraph, flights are running from Britain to 26 destinations in Spain during the month of June – with airlines planning to scale up their operations next month. 

EasyJet will be offering flights for under £20 in the hope of luring tourists back to international travel after months of crisis for the aviation industry. 

Ryanair is planning to run 1,000 flights per day by July, including many to Spain, while British Airways is looking to have 50 per cent of its Spanish schedule back in place by next month.  

Spain’s decision to admit Britons stands in contrast to countries such as Greece and Netherlands which have put the UK on a blacklist of countries with worryingly high infection rates.   

Several countries including Greece are still excluding Britons because of the UK’s dire figures, while Swedes are similarly unpopular in many countries. 

Britons are allowed into Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy but not Greece, the Netherlands or Austria and will have to quarantine in France,

Elsewhere in Europe, motorists were queuing to enter France from Italy and Germany from Denmark this morning after emergency checks were lifted overnight.  

France’s borders are open for travel within Europe, but Paris is insisting on reciprocity – meaning a 14-day quarantine for British visitors. 

The French government has criticised the ‘uncoordinated fashion’ in which Britain imposed the quarantine after initially saying that France would be exempt.  

At present, the UK Foreign Office is still advising Britons against ‘all non-essential international travel’ in any case. 

Announcing Monday’s reopening of borders, French president Emmanuel Macron said it is time ‘to turn the page of the first act of the crisis’ and ‘rediscover our taste for freedom’. 

But he warned: ‘This doesn’t mean the virus has disappeared and we can totally let down our guard… the summer of 2020 will be a summer unlike any other.’ 

In addition, most of the continent is still closed to visitors from Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas – although Greece is allowing some tourists from further afield.  

Germany and Belgium among those opening their borders today in line with an EU directive to resume travel by mid-June. 

All nine of Germany’s land borders are open and the country is allowing flights from Italy, but not Spain until June 21. Some flights to London have continued all along and UK travellers are not banned.   

Germany and the Netherlands have both lifted their warnings against non-essential foreign travel in Europe, although Germany is advising against travelling further afield until at least August 31. 

Austria has already opened its borders to most of its neighbours and will lift travel restrictions for 31 countries tomorrow, but not including the UK or Sweden.

German chancellor Angela Merkel and her Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz are both planning to holiday in their homelands this year.

‘The recommendation is still, if you want to be really safe, a holiday in Austria,’ Austrian foreign minister Alexander Schallenberg told ORF television, recalling the scramble in March to bring home thousands of tourists as borders slammed shut.

‘In Austria, you know that you don’t have to cross a border if you want to get home, and you know the infrastructure and the health system well,’ he said.  

The Dutch government said its citizens can now visit 16 European nations, but urged caution.

‘You can go abroad for your holiday again,’ foreign minister Stef Blok said.

‘But it won’t be as carefree as before the corona crisis. The virus is still among us and the situation remains uncertain.’

Greece has gone further, allowing travellers from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, China, Israel and Lebanon – but not Britain.  

Greece’s two main airports in Athens and Thessaloniki will reopen to arrivals from 29 countries from Monday, the start of the tourist season. Sea connections with Italy and land borders with the Balkans are also re-opening.  

Spain will only start to lift travel restrictions on June 21, re-establishing free travel with some of its fellow EU countries.

Prime minister Pedro Sanchez yesterday moved that date forward by 10 days, saying that ‘the re-opening of our frontiers is a critical moment’. 

However, Spain’s Balearic Islands are welcoming 11,000 Germans from today in a pilot project for the revival of the crucial tourism sector. 

‘This pilot programme will help us learn a lot for what lies ahead in the coming months,’ Sanchez said. 

‘We want our country, which is already known as a world-class tourist destination, to be recognised as also a secure destination.’

Sanchez said Spain’s land border with Portugal would remain closed till July 1 because Lisbon had requested it. 

Denmark opens its borders to Germany, Norway and Iceland for visitors from Monday as long as they can show they plan to stay outside the capital Copenhagen for at least six consecutive nights. 

Norway and Denmark are keeping their borders closed with Sweden, whose virus strategy avoided a lockdown but produced a high per capita death rate. 

Romania has not yet announced when it will re-open its borders to foreigners without restrictions.  

Italy, which has been among the world’s hardest hit by the new coronavirus pandemic, reopened its borders on June 3, lifting all restrictions for travellers from within Europe.

Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia and Slovenia have also already begun to lift restrictions for foreigners entering their countries but excluded those from nations they deem as not safe. 

Poland has reopened its borders to all fellow EU members and the UK from June 13. Sweden meanwhile never closed its borders to EU countries.

Neither did tiny Luxembourg – but quickly found all its neighbours closing their borders instead.