Confusion over Spain’s rules for British holidaymakers has been sparked by conflicting messages by officials.
Hopes rose when prime minister Pedro Sanchez announced over the weekend that Spain’s borders would reopen to travellers from all EU countries on June 21, with the exception of Portugal.
And on Monday evening, a Spanish government spokeswoman confirmed to the BBC that the UK would be added to a list of countries whose citizens could travel to Spain.
But Spanish foreign affairs minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya later appeared to give new guidance on the travel rules for UK travellers arriving in the country.
She suggested that the country may impose a two-week quarantine on British travellers if the UK maintains its current travel restrictions.
The new stance was apparently prompted by the UK government imposing a two-week quarantine on international arrivals.
The minister told the BBC’s HARDtalk programme: “We will be checking what the UK will be doing and we will be in dialogue with the UK to see whether or not we should be introducing reciprocity as they have different measures than the rest of the EU.”
She added the situation was “fluid” and said officials would like to “properly engage in a dialogue with the UK authorities to make sure that we both take the message that best corresponds to the health situation, which today is a little bit better in Spain than it is in the UK.”
She added: “Hopefully by the time we open our borders, the UK would have moved forward also.”
Ryanair added to the confusion by using the phrase ‘travel restrictions lifted’ in marketing for flights from July 1 onwards when it plans to start running 1,000 flights a day.
The Foreign Office continues to advise against all but essential overseas travel.
