Spain and two leading British airlines attacked the order by Boris Johnson’s government to quarantine visitors from the U.K.’s top tourist destination.
“Spain is a safe country,” Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said Sunday. “Spain has outbreaks. As do other countries. What’s important is that Spain is making great efforts to control these outbreaks.”
The U.K.’s decision Saturday to order a two-week quarantine for travellers from Spain creates a tense standoff between two countries that need each other as the prospect of a second wave of coronavirus gets real. Both their economies are tanking during critical summer months when people are finally emerging from lockdown and ready to spend.
The U.K. is critical to the Spanish economy — many of its pensioners have retired along that strip of the Mediterranean coast, and British sun-seekers account for 20% of Spain’s overall visitors. It’s a mutually dependent relationship taking place against a backdrop of Brexit, with the U.K. severing its ties with the European Union. Tourism accounts for 12% of Spain’s GDP.
The shock U.K. travel ruling was prompted by new virus cases spiking in Spain’s Catalonia region. Hard-hit airlines relying on those flights to stay afloat are angry at measures they see as overly broad.
“We are disappointed that the government has decided to impose a quarantine requirement for those traveling from the whole of Spain since the increased occurrence of Coronavirus is regional rather than nationwide,” EasyJet Plc said in a statement on Sunday. The decision “throws thousands of Britons’ travel plans into chaos.”
British Airways said it’s “yet another blow for British holidaymakers and cannot fail to have an impact on an already troubled aviation industry.” The “uncertainty and confusion is damaging for business and disappointing for those looking forward to a well-deserved break,” Andrew Flintham, managing director at TUI UK & Ireland, said in a statement.
Applying rules to an entire country rather than specific regions is unnecessary, said Manchester Airports Group Chief Executive Officer Charlie Cornish.
Spain was among Europe’s worst-hit countries in the first half of the year, when Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns from mid-March until late June.
A Spanish government report last week said a big proportion of recent cases are being detected at early stages. Deaths and new hospitalizations for intensive care have remained stable, the report said.
Gonzalez Laya said Sunday that Spain is working with the U.K. government to create air corridors for tourists to the Balearic Islands, home to the popular vacation destinations of Ibiza and Mallorca, as well as the Canary islands. The Balearic regional administration said it’s also working on the case. – Bloomberg.
