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Brits will have to show negative Covid test 48 hours before arriving and leaving Majorca, Ibiza and Tenerife
BRITS heading to Majorca, Ibiza and Tenerife will have to provide a negative coronavirus test result 48 hours before they are due to arrive.
Under the new measures, travellers must also test negative 48 hours before they depart the Balearic and Canary Islands.
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The tests will be free of charge but those who return a positive Covid-19 result will be stopped from flying home and must quarantine.
Tourists will be offered free accommodation in hotels and other properties that are set aside for quarantining purposes. Any hospital and medical fees will also be covered.
Spain's tourism minister Maria Reyes Maroto hopes the new measures, which were agreed by national and regional government representatives yesterday, will form the basis of the country's air corridor negotiations with the UK.
She said: "Protocols are a useful instrument to reach agreement with our European partners which facilitate the recovery of mobility and reactivation of tourism in conditions of safety and security."
The Balearic Islands' tourism minister Iago Negueruela described it as a "great agreement and very important step".
The Balearics and the Canary Islands reported 794 and 895 Covid-19 cases respectively over the past seven days.
But, there is no guarantee that the UK government will change its advice for holidaymakers travelling to Spain.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all non-essential travel to Spain, including the Balearic and Canary Islands.
The country recorded a rate of 307 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people over a 14 day period as of October 9, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Brits are required to self-isolate when they return home according to the current guidance.
Spain was removed from the 'safe' travel corridor list on July 26 and just days ago, Jet2 cancelled flights to Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote until November 1 amid the ongoing travel restrictions.
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At the time, prime minister Pedro Sanchez said the decision to remove Spain from the list was "incorrect".
Before the country was hit with a second wave of coronavirus, he said: "Spain is made up of a number of regions that have a cumulative rate of contagion that is lower than the European average as well as the UK average.
"The Spanish tourist industry has acted very responsibly over the past few months and has transferred a message of security with regards to the health emergency we are experiencing.
"It's true that on a global level the coronavirus pandemic continues to show a very worrying development and at a European level as well, but in Spain the spread of the virus is not occurring in a uniform way."
Yesterday, Spain reported 5,986 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of infections to 890,367.
Testing on the Costa Del Sol
HUNDREDS of Covid-19 tests are being handed out to hotels in the Costa del Sol as part of measures to encourage the return of tourists
The Costa del Sol Hotel Association (AEHCOS) and Malaga's Hospitality Association are to receive 400 tests which provide results in around 15 minutes.
Malaga mayor Francisco de la Torre said: "It gives us the security to be able to promote ourselves as a safe destination.
"We're taking a lead and creating the environment needed to co-exist successfully with Covid until a vaccine arrives."
Earlier this month, Juana Moreno, president of Andalusia, said his government are willing to test every Brit for Covid-19 who holidays on the Costa del Sol.
"The new rapid PCR tests we've bought are 99.9 per cent effective and in 20 minutes we'd know the result.
"That means that when a British holidaymaker reaches Malaga airport we can test that person while they have a coffee and once we know they don't have coronavirus, they can continue with their trip."
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