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‘Not an invitation to go there’: Germany urges against Mallorca holiday following lifting of travel warning

Germany's foreign minister on Wednesday urged his countrymen to think twice about rushing to Mallorca over the Easter holidays after the sun-soaked Spanish island was taken off the coronavirus risk list.

Published: 17 March 2021 17:45 CET
'Not an invitation to go there': Germany urges against Mallorca holiday following lifting of travel warning
A German woman with a suitcase strolls through Mallorca on Wednesday. Photo: DPA

The lifting of Berlin’s travel warning for the Balearic island has sparked a flurry of bookings from shutdown-weary Germans in recent days, with airlines laying on hundreds of extra flights to meet the surge in demand.

But Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the delisting of Mallorca was “not an invitation to go there”, especially considering Germany’s recent uptick in coronavirus cases, which has sparked warnings of a third wave.

“We have an increased incidence rate in Germany, and everyone is still called upon to do their part,” Maas told reporters in Berlin, with Easter school holidays due to begin in most German states from next weekend.

“Travel is one those things that leads to more contacts, and that’s why this is a decision that everyone has to make for themselves. But I hope citizens handle this responsibly.”

READ ALSO: ‘Germans are coming back’: Spaniards sceptical over return of tourists

Mallorca is one of the most popular holiday destinations among Germans, and is sometimes jokingly referred to as Germany’s 17th state.

Tourism giant TUI has said that it has received more bookings for Mallorca in recent days than in the same period in 2019, and would be doubling the number of its flights plying the route to the island to 300.

Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings on Wednesday said the extra 300 Easter holiday flights it had offered at the weekend were already sold out, and that it had added another 50 flights.

Other airlines including Lufthansa, Condor and Ryanair have also said they are increasing the number of flights.

READ ALSO: Spain braces for German Easter influx as flights boom

The updated travel advice means Germans no longer have to quarantine when they return home from Mallorca, or undergo mandatory testing.

Calls are growing however for returning travellers to be tested anyway, a suggestion Maas said “would be in everyone’s interest”.

Tourists arriving on the Spanish island must show a negative coronavirus test that is less than 72 hours old.

READ ALSO: Germany set to lift travel warning for parts of Spain and Portugal

Member comments

  1. Sadly, as the most visited destination for German tourism in the World, it is by default an invitation to go there. And will be treated as such up until the same nonsense as last year causes the Island to close everything down again and Germans to retest upon entry. Feeding the flames of Covid problems in other countries is how I would term it.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Reader question: How do the EU’s new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

As European travellers prepare for the introduction of enhanced passport checks known as the Entry & Exit System (EES), many readers have asked us what this means for the '90-day rule' for non-EU citizens.

Published: 1 May 2024 07:18 CEST
Reader question: How do the EU's new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

From the start date to the situation for dual nationals and non-EU residents living in the EU, it’s fair to say that readers of The Local have a lot of questions about the EU’s new biometric passport check system known as EES.

You can find our full Q&A on how the new system will work HERE, or leave us your questions HERE.

And one of the most commonly-asked questions was what the new system changes with regards to the 90-day rule – the rule that allows citizens of certain non-EU countries (including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to spend up to 90 days in every 180 in the EU without needing a visa.

And the short answer is – nothing. The key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any rules on immigration, visas etc.

Therefore the 90-day rule continues as it is – but what EES does change is the enforcement of the rule.

90 days 

The 90-day rule applies to citizens of a select group of non-EU countries;

Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela.

Citizens of these countries can spend up to 90 days in every 180 within the EU or Schengen zone without needing a visa or residency permit.

People who are citizens of neither the EU/Schengen zone nor the above listed countries need a visa even for short trips into the EU – eg an Indian or Chinese tourist coming for a two-week holiday would require a visa. 

In total, beneficiaries of the 90-day rule can spend up to six months in the EU, but not all in one go. They must limit their visits so that in any 180-day (six month) period they have spent less than 90 days (three months) in the Bloc.

READ ALSO How does the 90-day rule work?

The 90 days are calculated according to a rolling calendar so that at any point in the year you must be able to count backwards to the last 180 days, and show that you have spent less than 90 of them in the EU/Schengen zone.

You can find full details on how to count your days HERE.

If you wish to spend more than 90 days at a time you will have to leave the EU and apply for a visa for a longer stay. Applications must be done from your home country, or via the consulate of your home country if you are living abroad.

Under EES 90-day rule beneficiaries will still be able to travel visa free (although ETIAS will introduce extra changes, more on that below).

EES does not change either the rule or how the days are calculated, but what it does change is the enforcement.

Enforcement

One of the stated aims of the new system is to tighten up enforcement of ‘over-stayers’ – that is people who have either overstayed the time allowed on their visa or over-stayed their visa-free 90 day period.

At present border officials keep track of your time within the Bloc via manually stamping passports with the date of each entry and exit to the Bloc. These stamps can then be examined and the days counted up to ensure that you have not over-stayed.

The system works up to a point – stamps are frequently not checked, sometimes border guards incorrectly stamp a passport or forget to stamp it as you leave the EU, and the stamps themselves are not always easy to read.

What EES does is computerise this, so that each time your passport is scanned as you enter or leave the EU/Schengen zone, the number of days you have spent in the Bloc is automatically tallied – and over-stayers will be flagged.

For people who stick to the limits the system should – if it works correctly – actually be better, as it will replace the sometimes haphazard manual stamping system.

But it will make it virtually impossible to over-stay your 90-day limit without being detected.

The penalties for overstaying remain as they are now – a fine, a warning or a ban on re-entering the EU for a specified period. The penalties are at the discretion of each EU member state and will vary depending on your personal circumstances (eg how long you over-stayed for and whether you were working or claiming benefits during that time).

ETIAS 

It’s worth mentioning ETIAS at this point, even though it is a completely separate system to EES, because it will have a bigger impact on travel for many people.

ETIAS is a different EU rule change, due to be introduced some time after EES has gone live (probably in 2025, but the timetable for ETIAS is still somewhat unclear).

It will have a big impact on beneficiaries of the 90-day rule, effectively ending the days of paperwork-free travel for them.

Under ETIAS, beneficiaries of the 90-rule will need to apply online for a visa waiver before they travel. Technically this is a visa waiver rather than a visa, but it still spells the end of an era when 90-day beneficiaries can travel without doing any kind of immigration paperwork.

If you have travelled to the US in recent years you will find the ETIAS system very similar to the ESTA visa waiver – you apply online in advance, fill in a form and answer some questions and are sent your visa waiver within a couple of days.

ETIAS will cost €7 (with an exemption for under 18s and over 70s) and will last for three years.

Find full details HERE. 

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