The Canary Islands, along with the rest of Spain, as of Monday now allow travellers from non-EU and Schengen third countries, except India, Brazil and South Africa, if they can prove they are vaccinated against COVID-19. The order, published last Saturday in Spain’s Official State Gazette (BOE) modifies the temporary covid restrictions on non-essential trips from third countries to the European Union and Schengen associated countries.
The new modification allows entry to Spain for people with a vaccination certificate that the Ministry of Health recognises for this purpose, after verification from the health authorities, as well as any accompanying minors to whom the Ministry extends the effects. Vaccines accepted to date by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the World Health Organization (WHO) include Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen, Sinopharm and Sinovac-Coronavac.
“In the case of people arriving at any airport located in the Kingdom of Spain, with or without intermediate stopovers, on flights from airports located in third countries, who are subjected to quarantine by order of the Ministry of Health, while that order is in force, only the exceptions set out in letters d), e) and i) will be applicable, except in the case of persons residing in Spain or Andorra, or spouses of Spanish citizens or couples with whom they maintain a union similar to a spouse registered in a public registry, or those ascendants and descendants who live under their care, provided they travel with or to meet with that Spanish citizen”, states the BOE.
A mandatory 10-day quarantine is in place on those travelling from India, and there are also limitations on travel from Brazil or South Africa that, in practice, excludes them from entering Spain even if they are vaccinated.
President of Spain’s Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced at the end of May that Spain will allow entry to travellers from all countries who certify that they have received a complete schedule of a vaccine recognised by the WHO or the EMA as of June 7.
Sánchez presented the EU COVID Green Certificate at Fitur, which will be officially launched on July 1 and will facilitate the mobility of vaccinated European citizens who have recovered from the disease or who present a negative test to travel within the EU.
The Secretary of State for Tourism, Fernando Valdés, said on Saturday that, according to his forecasts, between the months of July and September Spain “will be receiving between 14.5 and 15.5 million tourists.”
These figures would represent approximately 40% of the tourist numbers to have arrived in 2019 but twice as many as Spain received in 2020. “Between July and September we will be receiving between 14.5 and 15.5 million tourists,” said Valdés in an interview on Catalunya Radio.
