Spain is preparing to revive a pan crucial to its economy : tourism. The country will reopen its land borders with France and Portugal on 22 June, three months after it was closed for fight against the pandemic coronavirus, announced, Thursday, the minister of Tourism Reyes Maroto. "In the case of France and Portugal, I wanted to confirm to you that from 22 June the restrictions on ground mobility will be eliminated, "she explained during a meeting with the international press, highlighting that" in principle [...] the quarantine shall be eliminated ". "This is very important because it will allow us to retrieve a large volume of tourists, both French and Portuguese ", she stressed.
A quarantine of 14 days for travelers arriving from abroad had been introduced on the 15th of may until the 1st of July. It will however remain in force until 1 July for arrivals by air in Spain, specified the minister. But " there is a debate to remove the quarantine before the 1st day of July, in view of the improvement of the epidemiological results of Spain ", she said. "I can't give you the certainty of today is the [...], but if the conditions are met to remove the quarantine before the 1st of July, we will ", she added.
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End of alert status on 21 June
The land borders had been closed in mid-march when the entry into force of the state of alert is intended to combat the pandemic. Only the crossings of persons or goods essential were allowed (medical personnel, food, etc.). The alert status will end on the 21st of June, after having been extended one last time on Wednesday by the Parliament. Once the alert is lifted, " these restrictions will be eliminated and mobility and will resume with these countries so important ", said the minister.
In addition, about 6 000 German tourists are expected to be able to go to the Balearic islands " from the second half of the month of June ", in the framework of a pilot project between the regional government of the archipelago, and the German tour operator TUI, said Reyes Maroto.
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