Cristina Hodgson
SPAIN’S Minister of Tourism Reyes Maroto has revealed plans to extend so-called ‘safe corridors’ throughout Spain.
Following what was agreed last month between the Central Government and the regional executives of the Balearic and Canary Islands, which established safe travel between European countries in order to reactivate tourism, Maroto aims to extend the protocol to other areas of Spain, especially in Andalucia.
The tourist corridors with European countries allow for the mobility of travellers while minimising the public health risk.
Maroto, in the virtual forum ‘Tourism and COVID-19: its repercussions in Malaga, the Costa del Sol, Andalucia and Spain’, explained that next week the Vice-president of the Junta, Juan Marin, and the Secretary of State for Tourism, Fernando Valdes, are expected to meet to begin work on the tourist corridors.
“I believe that we must work on them now so that when we can open them, we have all the resources available,” Maroto said.
“The protocols are a useful instrument for reaching agreements with our European partners that will allow mobility to be recovered and tourist flows to be reactivated under safe conditions.”
The already established protocols with the Canary Islands, decree that travellers from European countries with an incidence of over 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants will have to present a negative test for coronavirus 48 hours before the flight.
The Minister of Tourism advocates working on this project now so that when the current incidence of the COVID-19 in Spain is under control, it will be ‘easier to open corridors as the resources and protocols will be in place.’
The proposed protocols include testing for coronavirus at Spanish airports.
