Cristina Hodgson
THE Austrian government has advised against all non-essential travel to Spain over coronavirus fears.
The travel alert will come into effect on Monday and will be applied to continental Spain.
So far, no warning has been issued for the Balearic Islands (including Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza) or the Canary Islands (including Tenerife, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria).
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The travel alert, which already applies to Portugal, among other countries, was decided due to the ‘epidemiological developments’ of the pandemic in Spain as informed by the Austrian agency APA.
Consequently, as of Monday, all travellers arriving to Austria from Spain must present a negative test for coronavirus or undergo a 14-day quarantine.
Spain now joins the list of 60 other countries considered by the Austrian government as high risk for travel, including: Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Sweden, Bosnia, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, United States, Turkey, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru or South Africa, among others.
The announcement follows the decision made by Switzerland on Wednesday to add Spain to its travel blacklist.
Switzerland now joins Norway and the UK in imposing quarantine on anyone returning from Spain.
The news comes as an additional blow to hoteliers on the Costa del Sol who have already predicted dire occupation numbers for August, the most important month of the season.
