Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

COVID-19

REMINDER: What are the rules for travelling from the UK to Spain?

There has been a surge in flight bookings to Spain since Boris Johnson announced the UK's lockdown exit plans on Monday. But British tourists wanting to visit Spain should remember the travel rules that currently apply here before booking a holiday.

Published: 23 February 2021 18:25 CET
REMINDER: What are the rules for travelling from the UK to Spain?
Photos: AFP

IMPORTANT UPDATE *On March 23rd, Spain lifted the travel ban for UK arrivals from March 30th. However, the UK government has banned holidays abroad. There are some new travel exceptions for British second home owners in Spain but these still need to be clarified by British authorities. Therefore, the rules mentioned below will soon no longer be fully applicable (they remain the same for British residents in Spain) and we are working on updating this with the latest information as soon as it is made available by both governments.

What are the current rules?

Spain on Tuesday extended a ban on arrivals by air from Britain until at least March 30th over the new virus variants detected in the UK.

Only legal residents or nationals of Spain and the neighbouring microstate of Andorra are currently allowed in on flights from the UK.

That means that UK second home owners who aren’t residents and Britons who want to visit Spain cannot do so until further notice.

According to Spain’s foreign ministry website, UK citizens who have to urgently travel to Spain should contact the British embassy in Spain.

The restriction on arrivals from Britain was imposed at the end of December while the ban on arrivals from Brazil and South Africa came into effect on February 3rd.

As the UK is currently on Spain’s risk list, all travellers flying from the UK have to present a negative PCR, LAMP or antigen test taken within the last 72 hours.

There were cases in early January of UK holders of Spain’s old green resident certificate being denied the right to board their flights by airport staff who did not recognise the document as valid (when currently it’s just as valid as the new TIE residency card).

Although British consular authorities in Spain have moved to clear up this confusion with airport staff in both countries, it may be good to print and take with you this official document which explains what documents are valid as proof of residency.

There is also the Covid-19 Travel Declaration Form for international travel from England to keep in mind now.

“If any of you are returning from England to Spain, please be aware that as of today, Monday 8 March 2021, you will need to complete a travel declaration form providing the reason for your journey abroad and confirming that you are legally allowed to travel from England,” the UK Embassy in Madrid wrote on its Facebook page. 
 
“You must complete this form if you are travelling outside the UK from England, and you may be fined if you do not. Different rules apply for international travel from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.”
 
You should print a copy of the completed form or save it to a mobile phone or other device. Carriers will be checking the forms have been completed before boarding.

As soon as new information is published by Spanish authorities relating to travel from the UK, we will share it with our readers, so stay tuned.

READ ALSO: 

Why the surge in bookings to Spain?

Ryanair, EasyJet, Tui and Thomas Cook have all reported a sharp rise in bookings to Spain after UK Prime Minister Boris Johson on Monday said international trips could potentially restart from May 17 2021.

EasyJet reported that as a result flight bookings from the UK increased 337 percent and package holiday bookings skyrocketed 630 percent compared to the previous week, with Málaga, Alicante and Palma being the most sought-after destinations in Spain.

Eager British holidaymakers are however not necessarily factoring in that in order to travel to Spain the current travel rules that are in place for travellers from the UK would have to change.

“We have consistently seen that there is pent-up demand for travel and this surge in bookings shows the signal from the government that it plans to reopen travel has been what UK consumers have been waiting for,” easyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said.

Spain is currently working on plans to restart tourism as soon as its infection rates and vaccination campaigns allow for it, but no official date has yet been given in order to ascertain if this will coincide with the UK’s suggested May 17.

However, Spain’s Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto did say on Monday that the fact that the international tourism fair FITUR was going ahead in Valencia in May could signify the start of the tourist season in the country.

Her department is also working on incorporating an internationally recognised vaccine passport to its safe travel corridor scheme as an extra means for travellers to prove they do not have Covid-19.

READ MORE:

The UK Prime Minister added that a travel task force would publish full travel plans on April 12 “so people can plan for the summer”. International travel will however not restart until May 17 at the very earliest, so Easter holidays in Spain will not be possible.

Spanish tourism authorities have already almost entirely ruled out the possibility of being ready to welcome mass tourism by Easter.

There is clearly an intention on both countries’ part to restart tourism as soon as it can be done safely.

But the evolution of the pandemic in the two nations, emerging Covid variants and the speed at which both population groups are vaccinated make it hard to know when the right time to book a flight to Spain is. If at all, for now.
 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

SHOW COMMENTS