Spain to consider bilateral deals and travel corridors

Spain is ready to consider bilateral deals and corridors “with third countries” if a solution on vaccine certificates cannot be reached at the European Union level, according to Tourism Secretary Fernando Valdes.

Spain is ready to consider bilateral deals and corridors “with third countries” if a solution on vaccine certificates cannot be reached at the European Union level, according to Tourism Secretary Fernando Valdes.

Valdes’s comments come amid optimism in the European tourism industry sparked by the announcement last week of the U.K.’s plan to lift all coronavirus related restrictions by June 21. (Unsplash)

As vaccination campaigns evolve across Europe, “maybe in summer we will be regaining British tourists in Spain,” Valdes said. How to allow traveling across Europe must be decided at the EU level but if those decisions “cannot be reached we will be thinking of other solutions like corridors, green corridors with third countries that can help us to restart tourism flows.”

Valdes’s comments come amid optimism in the European tourism industry sparked by the announcement last week of the U.K.’s plan to lift all coronavirus related restrictions by June 21, ahead of the summer season.

Since the start of the pandemic, Spain saw an unprecedented slump in tourism. Tourism represented 12.4% of the economy in Spain in 2019 but accounted for only to 4.3% in 2020, according to the industry group Exceltur.

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