Spain will be open to tourists by spring, the Tourism minister says.

While flights to and from Spain have been suspended until February 2, due to the new Covid strain, the popular holiday destination hopes to welcome back tourists later this year.

Maroto insisted the country would begin to open up from the spring.

“Our priority in 2021 is to reactivate tourism and resume safe mobility on a global scale as soon as possible,” she said.

“We hope that at the end of spring and especially during the summer, international travel will resume and travellers will choose Spain as their destination.’

Spain is the favourite destination of British holidaymakers and more than 18 million went there in 2019.

Speaking in Madrid, Sánchez said he wants to vaccinate the majority of the population before opening the country back up to international visitors.

He said: “Our internal plan is to promote a strategy that includes vaccination of the Spanish population at the highest possible rate.

“We are already the ninth country in the world in the vaccination process and one of the first countries in Europe.

“And we are going to advance with the vaccination at the highest rate until reaching 70 per cent of the population with immunity by the end of the summer.

“This will allow Spain to be progressively better prepared to receive international tourists.”

The Balearic Island tourist board also said they hope to have a “positive” summer season due to the vaccine roll out.

They told Sun Online Travel: “We are optimistic now that the vaccine is being rolled out both in the UK and in Spain so restrictions can soon be relaxed and travel can be reinstated.

“Given our proximity to the UK , the extensive network of UK flight connections to the islands and our long and positive shared tourism history, we feel very confident that we will have a positive 2021 summer season.”

source: http://bit.ly/3rm00eV