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TRAVEL NEWS

TRAVEL: The new rules for filling in Spain’s Health Control Form

Spain has changed the rules regarding its Health Control Form, meaning that now it's not a requirement for all passengers to complete one before arrival. Read on to find out if you're exempt or if you still have to fill one out before travel to Spain.

Published: 7 April 2022 18:10 CEST
Spain health form airport
Spain Health form changes. Photo: Pau BARRENA / AFP

On Wednesday April 6th 2022 the Spanish government announced that it would be dropping the need for all travellers to fill out the Health Control Form before arrival in the country.

Previously, every traveller entering Spain, including anyone arriving in transit, from any country, was required to complete the form in order to receive a QR code to present at the airport upon arrival. 

As of April 6th, all travellers with an EU Digital Covid Certificate or equivalent from a non-EU country will simply have to show their certificate upon arrival, without having to complete the Health Control Form as well.

Before flying however, you should check that your equivalent certificate is valid for entry, otherwise you will still be required to complete the form and download the associated QR code to show at the airport.  

Now, when you visit Spain’s SpTH Health Control website, you will see two options – a yellow button for those who have an EU Digital Certificate or equivalent and a blue button for those who don’t (see below).

Children under the age of 12 and passengers in international transit do not have to show a certificate or SpTH QR code. 

The changes to Spain’s Health Control Form (called Formulario de Control Sanitario in Spanish, FCS) were published in Spain’s official state bulletin BOE. 

So far, 37 non-EU countries (and territories) have joined the EU Digital COVID Certificate system, meaning that their equivalent certificates are accepted in the EU under the same conditions as the EU Digital COVID Certificate. Likewise, the EU Digital COVID Certificate is accepted by those 37 countries.

The list includes countries such as the UK, New Zealand, Israel, Singapore and Malaysia, but does not include the US, Canada or Australia.

Here is the full list of countries whose travellers with Covid certificates equivalent to the EU’s don’t have to complete the SpTH form:

Albania
Andorra
Armenia
Benin
Cabo Verde
Colombia
El Salvador
Faroe Islands
Georgia
Israel
Iceland
Jordan
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Malaysia
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Morocco
New Zealand
North Macedonia
Norway
Panama
San Marino
Serbia
Singapore
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Tunisia
Togo
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man)
Uruguay
The Vatican

You can also double-check here on the EU website in case more countries are added.

Check your certificate before travel

If you are unsure if your certificate is valid for entry to Spain or whether you still need to complete the Health Control Form, click on the yellow button that says ‘EU Digital Certificate or EU equivalent’ to check or click here.

First, you will need to introduce your date of arrival in Spain and indicate the country of origin of your trip, before uploading your certificate to the site.

The site will then tell if your certificate is valid or if you still need to complete the form.

You will have to show your Digital Covid Certificate, equivalent certificate or Health Control Form QR code before boarding your flight to Spain and again at the airport upon arrival.

When you arrive at the airport in Spain, the Spain Travel Health website states that if you have an EU Digital Certificate or EU equivalent you should follow the Orange path and if you do not, you must follow the Blue path and present your QR code from the health form.

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For members

TOURISM

How much more expensive will holidays in Spain be this summer?

Whether it be hotel prices rising or shortages in the aviation sector making flights more expensive, a summer vacation in Spain this year is likely to cost more than last year.

Published: 25 April 2024 09:13 CEST
How much more expensive will holidays in Spain be this summer?

With lingering inflation, drought conditions, rising rents and building social tension surrounding the impact of mass tourism on Spanish society, summer 2024 could be an eventful one in Spain for a number of reasons.

It will probably also be more expensive than it was in the past, especially if you’re staying in a hotel or tourist apartment.

This follows a bumper Easter period that saw high occupancy and price rises across the country, and if forecasts and industry experts are anything to go by, it’s a trend that will continue into the summer season.

READ ALSO: ‘The island can’t take it anymore’: Why Tenerife is rejecting mass tourism

Hotel prices March increased by 10 percent compared to the same period in 2023, and have now experienced 34 consecutive months of price increases.

The average hotel room in Spain during March cost €109.2 per night, according to Hotel Tourism Situation data published by Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE).

How much more expensive will flights to Spain be this summer?

Firstly, flights. Aviation industry experts suggest that a perfect storm of conditions could cause the price of flights to increase for summer 2024. A shortage of commercial planes, caused mainly by a combination of problems on Boeing’s production line and Airbus having difficulties with engine manufacturers, will likely drive up prices around the world.

These “are factors that don’t make it easy for prices to fall,” according to Pere Suau, professor of Economics and Business Studies at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, who admitted that “it is difficult to measure the extent to which” they will go up. The key, in Suau’s opinion, is to see how demand will be affected by price rises. “As of today prices are rising, but demand is tolerating it, demand continues to grow,” he adds.

Reports in the Spanish media suggest that prices on budget airlines like Ryanair could rise by around 10 percent.

READ ALSO: EasyJet opens Spanish base in Alicante with ten new routes

How much more expensive will hotels in Spain be this summer?

So, flights will likely be more expensive this year. But what about hotels?

It’s difficult to say exactly by how much hotel prices will have risen by summer, but most estimates put it at somewhere in the 8-12 percent range, depending on factors such as location, occupancy, type of accommodation (ie. is it luxury or budget) and length of stay.

However, despite that, most experts seem to think the price rises will be slightly less than the 2023-23 year-on-year increases, when average hotel room costs shot up by 16.5 percent, according to statistics from SRT and Cushman & Wakefield.

Albert Grau, partner at Cushman & Wakefield’s Hospitality department in Spain, told El Periódico de España that: ‘We expect there to continue to be growth in prices… although it will be more moderate, in single digits, compared to the large increase in the last year.”

Spanish news outlet La Sexta reports that hotel rooms in the summer will be on average 11 percent more than last year, according to figures from INE and Travelgate.

Forecasts by American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) put Barcelona, long a popular tourist destination, among European cities where a significant increase in hotel prices is expected, with a projected rise of 9 percent. Other Spanish cities, such as Bilbao and Valencia, are forecast to see price jumps of around 8.5 percent.

In Andalusia, hotel sector insiders in Andalusia are expecting a 7 percent increase overall this summer, according to Trinitario Bertore, director of Hotel Plaza Nueva in Granada, who spoke to La Sexta. Bertore said a night’s stay in a hotel in Andalusia can now cost up to €210, a 7 percent rise compared to last summer.

José Luis Contreras, managing director of Apartamentos Valencia Costera, said prices in tourist flats in Valencia will also rise by around 7 percent and even reach an eye-watering €350 per night in the high season.

Both Bertore and Contreras said that there’s no need to lower prices because demand is increasing, despite the per night rate increases.

It seems clear that accommodation will likely be a more expensive for summer 2024 in Spain than it was last year, though the year-on-year rise will slow slightly. Most forecasts put the average expected hotel price rises at roughly 10-11 percent overall.

By exactly how much will depend on several factors: where you’re staying, and whether it’s a traditional tourist spot such as parts of Andalusia, Alicante, Valencia or the Canary and Balearic Islands; whether it’s a hotel or apartment; the quality of the accommodation; how long you’re staying; how far in advance you book; when exactly in the summer season you’ll visit Spain.

Aviation industry uncertainty also means that flights will become more expensive, so both travel and accommodation are likely to be more expensive in Spain this summer.

Tourism makes up a significant portion of Spain’s GDP. Predicted tourism earnings for 2024 are expected to bring in €202.65 billion, an 8.6 percent increase on 2023, a record year.

However, growing anti-mass tourism sentiment has been bubbling in Spanish society for some time now, with protests in various cities around the country decrying the impact, among other things, of Spain’s tourism model on the local housing market.

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