Lanzarote’s minister of tourism promotion has urged the government to reconsider its quarantine measures for the Canary Islands and thanked UK travel companies for their support.
Angel Vazquez argued that low infection rates in the Canary Islands meant they were safe to visit, citing data published on July 29 which indicated an infection rate of 2.41 per 100,000 people.
He also said significant sums had been invested in detection protocols for arrivals and in the tourism sector in general to allow it to reopen safely, with half of hotels back in operation.
Vazquez said: “The change in the UK government’s travel advice will have strong impact on our tourism sector which has already been hit hard over the last few months. We are looking forward to British visitors being able to visit us again without having to quarantine upon their return to the UK.
“We are deeply saddened by the travel advice and the decision to make quarantine mandatory for those who visit the island on their return. We feel it is an unnecessary measure given the evolution and epidemiology of the crisis on the island and will have a detrimental impact on our tourism and hotel sector.”
He added: “We urge the UK government to reconsider this quarantine measure for the Canary Islands, in the confidence that they will understand the objective reasons for our request.
“We also want to thank the UK travel companies that support Lanzarote. We will support our UK travel partners to the best of our abilities during this difficult time in the hope that very soon we can welcome British visitors once again.”