British travellers to Spain may still need to quarantine from June 21 says Spanish Foreign Minister

BRITISH travellers arriving in Spain may still have to endure a 14 day quarantine period.

Just hours after the British Embassy in Madrid confirmed this would not be the case from June 21, Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said it was not a cut and dried decision.

The UK has retained its own quarantine period for travelling to British shores, and this could be the sticking point.

Speaking to the BBC’s Hard Talk programme Gonzalez said: “We will be checking what the UK will be doing and we will be in a dialogue with the UK to see whether or not we should be introducing reciprocity as they have different measures than the rest of the European Union.”

In other words, until British self-isolation rules are lifted the same restrictions may apply to travelers from the UK.

Gonzalez added: “Hopefully by the time we open our borders, the UK would have moved forward also.”

The UK government is coming under increasing pressure to review the 14-day quarantine period for arrivals.

But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said there will be no changes until June 29 at the earliest.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had announced the restart of Spain’s tourist season from this Sunday.

Thousands of German holidaymakers have been allowed into Mallorca in a pilot programme to assess the feasibility of such a move.

June 21 is also the date that the State of Alarm in Spain officially ends, meaning there will be unrestricted travel within the country.

Germany and France are also reopening their borders.

Travellers from outside the EU will be allowed into Spain from July 1, depending on the pandemic situation in the countries of origin.