Balearics’ bid to welcome Brits back
The Balearic Islands are fighting to become the first part of Spain to welcome British holidaymakers back with vaccine passports.
Regional governors urged Spanish tourism minister Maria Reyes Maroto to let them start a pilot scheme for visitors who have been jabbed at a meeting in Madrid on Friday.
Spanish tourism officials have already confirmed their commitment to the introduction of Covid-19 immunity passports that would enable Brits to resume their love affair with the Costas.
Whitehall sources said the prospect of foreign trips this summer is looking “increasingly positive”.
Foreign Office minister James Cleverly confirmed talks with “international partners” on the issue of vaccine passports was ongoing in a
BBC Breakfast interview last week, although he stopped short of giving any guarantees on foreign travel this summer.
It emerged yesterday that British favourites such as Magaluf in Majorca and San Antonio in Ibiza could be allowed to open up to international tourism if the Covid vaccine passport gets the go-ahead.
The Balearic Islands were chosen last year to trial a pilot scheme involving thousands of German tourists, which started a week before Spain officially reopened its borders to holidaymakers in June after a three
■ month shutdown. The islands’ tourism minister Iago Negueruela, who attended the Madrid meeting with the region’s president Francina Armengol, said yesterday: “We have offered to become one of the first parts of Spain where the vaccine passport is trialled.
“We showed with last year’s pilot we can work effectively and the Spanish government’s response to our proposal was very positive.
“We will focus our efforts from now on in becoming a lead region in the implementation of immunity certificates to facilitate mobility.”
The Balearics’ push for the return of
British tourists came less than a week after Spain’s secretary of state for tourism told Brits: “We’re looking forward to welcoming you again.”
Francisco Valdes said: “The UK is among the countries with the highest vaccination rates in the world and we aim to have at least 70 per cent of our adult population immune by summer so I’d say to British people, ‘Keep open your expectations regarding holidays in Spain.’”
The Spanish government confirmed it’s working on the issue of vaccine passports.