German, French or Scandinavian tourists could be authorized to go to Spain during the second half of June as part of a "pilot" project to restart tourist activity, AFP learned on Saturday from the ministry tourism.
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Last Saturday, the head of the Spanish government Pedro Sanchez announced that Spain would reopen its borders to foreign tourists "from the month of July". For this, the quarantine imposed on people arriving in the country since May 15 will be lifted on July 1. But according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism, the arrival of tourists could be authorized before July 1 in the Balearic and Canary archipelagos, the only two regions having asked for the moment to participate in this "pilot" project.
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Second world tourist destination
This spokesman told AFP that the authorities were counting on the date of June 22 to start receiving tourists from Germany, France or the Scandinavian countries because these countries have an epidemiological situation better or similar to that of the 'Spain. These tourists would not be subject to quarantine. British tourists, the most numerous to come each year to Spain, would however be excluded from this pilot project due to a less favorable epidemiological situation in Great Britain.
"We work more with the German tour operators", very present in Majorca in the Balearic Islands or in the Canaries, underlined the spokesperson of the ministry who indicated that the government was open to the proposals of other regions like Andalusia (south ), Catalonia (North-East) or Valencia (East) if they wished to participate in this pilot project.
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Spain is the second largest tourist destination in the world and tourism there accounts for 12% of the GDP. This country, one of the most affected in the world by the pandemic which left more than 27,000 dead there, has started in recent weeks a cautious deconfinement in phases which should be completed in late June or early July at the latest depending on the region.