Spain Welcomes German Tourists At Easter, But Not Nationals

Spain Welcomes German Tourists At Easter, But Not Nationals

CREDIT: Twitter

SPAIN welcomes German tourists at Easter, but not Nationals

Spain approaches Easter with two seemingly contradictory measures in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. On the one hand, autonomous communities have voted to maintain perimeter closures during Holy Week so that Spanish residents won’t be allowed to travel to other provinces except for essential reasons. But on the other hand, the country maintains open borders with the rest of Europe and is expecting an influx of German tourists in particular over Easter after Spain was taken off their high risk list.

Thus, Spain opens up to German travellers but shields itself against the Spanish.

Many tour operators in Germany were forced to put on extra flights to Spain, and particularly the Balearic Islands, as demand far outweighed the original supply.

“We have had a booking boom for the Easter holidays,” confirmed Thomas Daubenbuchel, spokesperson for Alltours. A day after Germany announced that those returning from Spain wouldn’t have to quarantine, the operator added 20 charter flights from Dusseldorf. Two days later, they were sold out.

TUI also revealed that they had sold out of seats for the first available flights from Germany to Spain, while Irish airline giant Ryanair announced on Tuesday, March 16 that it will offer 200 additional flights connecting the main German cities of Cologne, Berlin, and Frankfurt, with Palma de Mallorca and Alicante for Easter, which means an increase of almost 40,000 more seats on 22 different routes to travel from March 28 to mid-April.

Facing harsh criticism over allowing foreign tourists while preventing Spaniards from travelling, the government has staunchly defended the decision, insisting that shutting Spain off from Europe is not the answer.

“We cannot close our country outside the EU. There are some control measures in airports that are working, quarantine, and measures of course that are within the established scope and the recommendations of the EU,” said the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, a week ago in an interview with EL COUNTRY.

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Sarah Keane

Former teacher and health services manager with a Degree in English, Sarah moved to Spain from Southern Ireland with her husband, who runs his own car rental business, in 2019. She is now enjoying a completely different pace and quality of life on the Costa Blanca South, with wonderful Spanish and expat friends in Cabo Roig. Sarah began working with Euro Weekly News in 2020 and loves nothing more than bringing all the latest national and international news to her local community.

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