Spain and Portugal have both said they expect British tourists to be welcomed within weeks.
Inews reports that Spain has announced British holidaymakers will be allowed into the country from June onwards even if they have not received a Covid-19 vaccine.
Spanish tourism minister Fernando Valdés Verelst said those with a valid digital health certificate as well as those who have not been inoculated would be included in the plans. People who have not received a vaccine will instead be required to present a negative test on arrival.
Mr Valdés Verelst said: “June will be the beginning of the recovery of tourism in Spain. By then we will have a digital vaccination certificate in place and we will be able to reopen our borders.”
Mr Valdés Verelst said he had been in “close conversations” with ministers in the UK over the plans, adding that he was pushing for Britain’s vaccine passport to be “mutually recognised”.
It comes as Portugal’s ambassador to the UK said British tourists could be able to visit from the “middle of May”.
Asked when Portugal will be opening its borders, Manuel Lobo Antunes told Sky News on Wednesday: “As soon as possible, this is not just a unilateral matter, we have to co-ordinate this issue with our British friends and the UK government. “But we are hopeful, as we have been saying for these last months, that from the middle of May, regular mobility between the UK and Portugal and vice versa, can be established, that’s our hope.”
Asked if Britons who have not been vaccinated can travel into the country, he added: “Yes, that’s the idea, that’s what we wanted, to as much as possible go back to the regime that existed before the pandemic. “It’s in that direction we are working and that is possible.”
Under Boris Johnson’s roadmap, non-essential international travel is set to resume on 17 May for people living in England.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps said on Wednesday that domestic Covid statistics “look good” to enable the resumption of foreign holidays next month.
Mr Shapps told Sky News: “I have to say that so far the data does continue to look good from a UK perspective, notwithstanding those concerns about where people might be travelling to and making sure we’re protected from the disease being reimported.”
He added that he will set out which countries fall into the “green”, “amber” and “red” categories under the new risk-based traffic light system “towards the beginning of May”. That will determine what testing and quarantine requirements travellers will face when they return from various destinations.
Mr Shapps said the NHS app is being worked on to become a health certificate for UK holidaymakers to use for international travel.
He told Sky News: “In terms of vaccine certification, I can confirm we are working on an NHS application; actually it will be the NHS app that is used for people when they book appointments with the NHS and so on, to be able to show you’ve had a vaccine or you’ve had testing. “I’m working internationally with partners across the world to make sure that system can be internationally recognised, as that’s the way forward. “Actually, I’m chairing a meeting of the G7 secretaries of state for transport, my equivalents from America and Canada and all the G7 countries, next week on exactly this subject.”
(Story source: Inews)
