Spain fears influx of UK visitors will bring coronavirus with them
Hooray! Holidays in Spain are suddenly back on the table for British tourists this summer. While there is no quarantine on arrival and you can get straight into your break – albeit with safety restrictions – a 14-day self-isolation period on return to the UK is in place and the Foreign Office is still advising against all non-essential travel. I am, however, pretty confident that both of these stumbling blocks will disappear within the next fortnight.
After a succession of fits and starts, Tui is offering holidays to Majorca, Ibiza, Tenerife and Lanzarote from July 11. A week in Majorca for a family of four, all-inclusive, at the Suneo hotel in Santa Ponsa is available for £1,289, departing on July 21 from Gatwick. If you fancy a quick jaunt to Barcelona – and let’s face it, who doesn’t? – two nights room only with British Airways Holidays from Heathrow with checked baggage costs just £153 per person at a range of hotels in July and August.
But are we going to be welcomed with open arms or is there some reticence about the return of British tourists to mainland Spain and the Balearic and Canary Islands?
Mike Cliffe-Jones, director of Lanzarote Information, says, “There’s a real split in Lanzarote. The majority of people here rely on tourism for their income, which, with almost 50 per cent of the market, means British tourism. But there’s a significant minority of mainly retired people who are desperate to keep high-risk tourists out and currently Brits fall into that category, at least until the virus is under better control in the UK.”
Alex Bramwell of Gran Canaria Info agrees. “I see a fair bit of bemusement in Gran Canaria that the British are coming back while their contagion levels are still relatively high. Some people here are afraid they will bring the virus back to the island.”
The pretty hilltop town of Vejer de la Frontera, on the Costa de la Luz in Andalucia, enforced a particularly strict lockdown and as a result only had one case of Covid-19 – a nurse who recovered quickly and was soon back at work. Anne Manson runs Annie B’s Spanish Kitchen in the heart of the town, offering cookery courses and gastronomic tours.
“We have been sensible citizens and are delighted to see Brits back, but they haven’t had the restrictions we have had. We just hope they respect what it was like for us and try to remember to observe our social distancing rule, which is 1.5 metres at the moment.”
Manson doesn’t think people will want to travel while the UK quarantine is in force. “To come here to cook for four days then have to self-isolate for two weeks would take all the joy out of it.”
During lockdown she has been thinking on her feet and has adapted her holidays to address people’s concerns. “I need people to feel confident about coming so have added a three-night option just for couples, called Dos Copas, meaning ‘two drinks’. Guests stay in the annexe of my traditional house and have private cooking classes, so can keep their distance from other people, but also drive to the surrounding villages and enjoy the beaches if they are comfortable doing so.”
This looks like it will be a good summer for northern Spain, as more British visitors than usual will be keen to take their own car with Brittany Ferries to Santander or Bilbao. There may be a problem with availability, however, as a lot of Spanish people are opting for staycations this year.
Andy McCulloch of Casas Cantábricas, which specialises in villas in Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia, as well as self-drive tours including ferry crossings tours throughout Spain, has already noticed this trend. “The local Spanish market started snaffling up our self-catering options as soon as they realised it was the safest idea this summer.”
He thinks people in northern Spain are cautiously enthusiastic about the Brits returning. “Everyone knows there’s an element of risk but also that tourism is a keystone of the Spanish economy. There’s also some hope that the lockdown and the continuing measures under the ‘new normal’ might help to make a break with some of the excesses previously associated with certain elements of British tourism – not that that’s ever been a problem for us as we are a long way from the Costas.”
Spain has been trying to convince tourists for years that there are a lot more options in the country than beach holidays in resorts. Maybe a shift to lesser-known regions and activities in the great outdoors will be an unexpected bonus to emerge from the Coronavirus situation. Now where did I put my hiking boots?
For more suggestions about where to go in Spain, see our guide of where (and where not) to go this summer
