Mazazo for Spain and its tourism sector after being excluded from the British green list

The announcement was eagerly awaited and optimistically ended up looking like a jug of cold water. The UK’s decision not to include Spain on its famous Green ListCountries to which it is currently considered safe to travel are a real blow to the tourism sector’s hopes of reviving this summer thanks to the massive arrival of the British.

For Spanish traders, the news is the worst possible. For British tourists, too. “It’s an agony we see no end to,” said Tony Mayall, a trader at Magaluf. “They put it off for two weeks, or three, or a month, and we’re not getting out of this situation.”

The atmosphere is very similar on the streets of Benidorm, and it is there that the British Caroline admitted that the quarantine was “a nightmare. Everyone is desperate to come to Spain, but Boris (Johnson) insists we have to stay. I work from home and can isolate there, very well, but a lot of people are not in that situation and they desperately need to get out.”

In fact, the permanence of the controversial orange translates to “the COVID traffic light.” Anyone traveling to Spain must reserve 40 out of 10 days once back in the UK, In addition to undergoing three PCR tests. All these requirements make many tourists reject the idea of ​​traveling directly.

Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, including, are not the only ones affected. Portugal on Thursday passed from the green list to the orange list, of which Greece was also already. And the numbers speak for themselves: about four million British tourists visit southern European countries each year between July and August. In three weeks, the “COVID traffic light” will give these countries a new chance.