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TRAVEL NEWS

Spain’s Balearic Islands to request PCR test or vaccination certificate from British tourists 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday that UK tourists visiting Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza or Formentera will have to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test or that they’ve been fully vaccinated.

Published: 28 June 2021 09:47 CEST
Spain's Balearic Islands to request PCR test or vaccine certificate from British tourists 
Photo: Jaime Reina/AFP

Sánchez made the announcement on Spanish radio station Cadena Ser, stating that his government will “apply the same conditions to British tourists who go to the Balearic Islands” as to other international travellers. 

“They will need a complete vaccination certificate or negative PCR test. 

“The measure will come into force in 72 hours”, Sánchez added, meaning Thursday July 1st.

Numerous Spanish news sources have reported that the Spanish Prime Minister’s announcement actually extends to all of the country’s 17 regions, even though he specifically stated the Balearic Islands.  

The news also comes just days after the UK government included the Mediterranean archipelago on its “green” travel list, which allows returning British tourists to avoid the ten-day quarantine mandatory for travel to all other regions in Spain as they’re on the “amber” list.

The announcement is reported to have caused a spike of 3,000 percent in holiday bookings by budding travellers looking to fly to the archipelago which includes the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.

UK holidaymakers travelling to Spain have not had to present a negative PCR test or show proof of their Covid-19 health status since May 24th, but now travellers who had hoped to go to the Balearics and avoid quarantine upon return will have to at least carry paper or digital proof that they’ve had a PCR test within the last 72 hours or completed their vaccination treatment more than 14 days before travel.

The Balearic Islands have also been at the centre of a huge Covid-19 cluster which occurred after an end-of-year student trip in Mallorca, with hundreds of youths testing positive for Covid-19 across at least eight Spanish regions. 

“British tourists have to be tested upon return to the United Kingdom so we have also told the national government that we want controls with proof of testing on arrival or a certificate of complete vaccination,” spokesperson Iago Negueruela told Cadena Ser last Friday, hinting that there would “be no problem” for Madrid to adopt this measure.

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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.

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