UK’s ‘Traffic Light’ Scheme Could Bring Tourism Back to Spain

THE UK’s new “traffic light” scheme for allowing travel could bring tourism back to Spain.

According to UK government insiders the traffic light scheme could bring tourism back to Spain.

A study varied out by economics consultancy Oxera and Edge Health for Manchester Airports Group has found around 130 nations could be on the “green” list for travel, including Spain.

According to The Times, green-ranked countries would see travel allowed without restrictions, and with no requirement for hotel quarantine.

However, arrivals from these nations will still be required to take tests at the airport before departure, and then further test within days of landing.

By looking at the risk of new infections from July and August 2020, when travel restrictions were in place, Oxera and Edge found travellers from the UK could now visit around 130 countries, bringing back tourism to countries including Spain.

Michele Granatstein, Partner at Oxera and Head of its Aviation practice, spoke about tourism and said: “The successful rollout of the UK’s vaccination programme, with 32 million people having received a first dose, is crucial to the safe re-opening of air travel.

“The vaccine role in significantly reducing not only the number of hospitalisations and COVID-19 deaths but transmission rates of the virus should give assurance that safe travel to international destinations is within reach.

“Given these promising results, the proposed green list countries could safely be extended this summer.

“Extending the travel corridor scheme would also give people greater peace of mind that they can travel safely while removing the obligation to undergo an inconvenient and potentially expensive quarantine period.”

Charlie Cornish, Group CEO of Manchester Airports Group (MAG), said: “Throughout this pandemic, MAG and the wider travel industry has supported the need for strict measures to prevent the spread of the virus and respond to new variants.

“At the same time, the case for restarting international travel safely and at the earliest opportunity is clear.

“Hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds worth of economic value hang in the balance, while families are desperate for a hard-earned holiday, or to be reunited with loved ones they have been separated from during the most challenging of years.

“The Government’s vaccination programme is the envy of the world and this study shows that unlocking travel to a wide range of destinations is one of the many ways in which the British public can benefit from its success.

“This research is a hugely valuable contribution to the work of the Global Travel Taskforce and paves the way for overseas travel to resume as soon as possible.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the Taskforce ahead of the publication of its framework next week, and to playing our part in getting Britain flying again and driving our recovery from this pandemic.”

The news comes as the UK government has announced it will introduce vaccine passports, and Spain’s government also announced it will introduce vaccine passports in a move towards tourism.