Spain has joined the crowd of countries hoping to reopen to tourists this summer.
As lockdowns begin to lift across Europe, many tourism-dependent nations are quickly turning their attention to how quickly they can once again welcome visitors. Italy is targeting June 3 as their border reopening date, Iceland are eyeing up mid-June date to welcome travellers, and Greece hopes to have their lucrative tourist industry up and running again by the beginning of July. Now Spain – which, along with Italy and the UK, has been one of the countries worst-hit by the virus – has signalled their hope to open borders by the end of June.
Spanish Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos, interviewed on Spanish broadcaster TVE, has expressed his wish to start tourist activity by the end of June, noting that the border closures were only intended to be temporary. The aim is to ease border restrictions in concert with other nations, meaning that as soon as Spaniards are allowed to travel abroad, they’ll look to welcome guests to Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and beyond.
Areas where tourism is particularly vital to the economy, such as the Canary and Balaeric Islands, are likely to make a big push to attract visitors, but it’s obviously worth bearing in mind that there’s still a huge amount of uncertainty around when Brits will be able to head abroad. Still, nice to know we’ve got options if and when we’re able to jet off this year!