Belgian travel advice for Spain

[erik_tonny]

As first european country Belgium has changed its traveladvice for whole Spain from code green to orange.

[jand]

As from midnight anyone flying back from Spain to the UK have to quarantine for 14 days.

Its in all the papers and was breaking news on ITV at six.

[jand]

Tui have cancelled all flights to Spain and Canary Islands for tomorrow.

https://ukaviation.news/tui-cancels-all-...c3wo3X_C6Q

[erik_tonny]

If they make an exception for the islands, a lot of Brits travelling from mainland Spain to UK will make a detour via the islands.

[Jason W]

Swiss health authorities have added mainland Spain to its list of countries from which people arriving must enter a 10-day coronavirus quarantine. No quarantine for people coming from Balearic nor Canary Islands.

Clearly the Swiss Govt have a map showing where the Canary Islands are located - maybe they would like to lend it to Boris.

[erik_tonny]

The dutch government is recommending against all but essential travel to whole Spain, including the canary islands

[windermeregolfer]

Spotted this Link from Onda Fuerteventura on FB - Alemania cierra la puerta a Canarias

Google Translation -

The German government announced this afternoon that the Islands are today on the black list of regions to which it is dangerous to travel. Berlin obliges those who come from them - until now all the rest of Spain - either to quarantine or to present a test on arrival at the airport that proves that they are not infected by the COVID-19 Coronavirus, as reported by the La Provincia newspaper.

The closure of Germany is the finishing touch for the Canarian tourism sector, which thus sees the worst omens come true and the high winter season starts already touched. Only if the contagion curve bends between the remainder of the month and the next can the furniture be saved. This is what Sebastian Ebel, the CEO of TUI, the world's leading tour operator, asked the regional government this week, which continues to bet on the Archipelago as the main sun and beach destination in Europe.

Until now, the Islands had been saved from the German government's recommendations to its citizens, but the infection rates already far exceed the limit of 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants established by its Robert Koch public health institute to make a region blacklist. . The rate of the Islands is 79.73 in the last 7 days.

Thus follows the list of countries that do not recommend their residents to travel to the Archipelago. In July, the United Kingdom, the main market for the Islands, followed suit, followed by the Netherlands, Poland and most of the Nordic countries have also established restrictions. Only Sweden is left as the only 'open' market. The result of all this is that 90% of the Nordic reserves until November have been lost.

Hope passes now because, in December, the drop in temperatures in northern Europe will encourage the market again, if the virus can be ensnared.

The Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands, Yaiza Castilla, has regretted the decision of the German Government, "this decision will undoubtedly entail a clear decrease in the demand for trips to the Canary Islands, although not so drastic as in the case of the United Kingdom ', since at the moment they are not obliged to carry out a 15-day quarantine upon return, but to carry out a test to verify that they are free of the virus and in any case wait in home quarantine until the result.

Castilla trusts that the Canary Islands can redirect this situation in the next four weeks for which it considers essential to tighten the restrictive measures and controls to curb the rate of infections, as well as the ironclad commitment of the entire population, "which must be aware that almost one out of every two jobs depends directly or indirectly on tourism, not counting all the induced employment generated by this activity in the Canary Islands ».

In addition to controlling the level of incidence of the pandemic, Castilla once again appeals to the implementation of PCR tests at origin and destination, not only as a protection measure for the Canarian population, but as an element of confidence of tourists and their respective governments with a view to considering the Islands as safe territory. For this, Turismo de Canarias is already working on a proposal that makes this measure viable between now and the winter season and for which it has for the first time the involvement of the main tour operators, in addition to the offer of the Canary Islands employers.

The Islands received 15.1 million tourists last year. Of these, the Germans are the second largest market, only preceded by the British. There are almost 2.7 million tourists, 18% of the total and 20% if only international tourists (13.1 million) are taken into account. Although they are distributed throughout the islands, they have a greater weight in those of Gran Canaria (24%) and, above all, in Fuerteventura, where they reach a market share of 40%.

[Ducks]

I would probably plan ahead and stock up on long life groceries before the restrictions start reappearing. No need to stockpile but having an extra bottle of water, TP rolls, or pasta could be handy, especially at the beginning when the rules won't be that clear, queues way too long, etc.

You have a real point about the rules not being clear or obvious originally! 

I must say, though: in Caleta/Mattoral last time, things were really not bad at the beginning. Stockwise there were some issues, but it wasn't terribly extreme, and the only time I found the shops terribly busy with bad queues was the Friday before the lockdown was announced. It was absolutely beyond bonkers that day— like Christmas back home. Never saw the like in the Canaries before! In the early weeks after the announcement, though, I found things very sedate.

[Fabian]

Germany has just lifted the travel warning for the Canary Islands!

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-healt...KKBN2771MX

[erik_tonny]

The Netherlands have opened travel to Greece and the Canaries.
Sorry to doubt if, on the long run, this is good news for the concerning countries.