Although Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced that visitors from EU states (with the exception of Portugal) can come to Spain from 21 June – the Balearic Islands will start to receive tourists from today, as part of a pilot scheme.
Only tourists from Germany are being allowed to visit the Balearic Islands during the pilot scheme, as the country has a similar epidemiological situation of Coronavirus (Covid-19) as Spain.
According to the Balearic Islands government, some 6,000 tourists from Germany will be visiting during this week – 4,000 in Mallorca, 1,000 in Ibiza and 1,000 in Menorca.
The measures were published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE) as part of a pilot programme to open up safe tourist corridors in the Balearic Islands as from Monday 15 June. This programme will allow tourists to arrive in this autonomous region from the Schengen Area states or associated states by specific air routes.
To do this, the Balearic Islands needed to be in Phase Three of the government’s four-phase de-escalation of lockdown plan and have a rate of people infected by Covid-19 of fewer than nine cases per 100,000 inhabitants for seven consecutive days.
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Furthermore, inbound tourists have to reside in the same country as the airport of origin (in other words, not be in transit), and which must also have the same rate of people infected per 100,000 inhabitants as the destination for the same length of time.
Los aeropuertos de #PalmaDeMallorca, #Menorca e #Ibiza, preparados para acoger a los pasajeros del corredor turístico seguro entre Alemania y Baleares #VolarSeguro pic.twitter.com/mnimqKUllv
— Aena (@aena) June 14, 2020
Tourists will not be obliged to go into quarantine but must be prepared to show proof of a return ticket and proof of accommodation for the whole stay, which may not be less than five nights.
In turn, the airports of origin and destination, together with the airlines covering the flights, must form part of the Voluntary Monitoring Programme of the Implementation of the EASA Protocol for Covid-19 – or have implemented the recommendations of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
Airlines are providing a public health form to maintain details of the location of passengers whilst in the Balearic Islands. On arrival, health authorities are carrying out temperature checks.
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The active monitoring of tourists is the responsibility of the Balearic Islands’ regional government, so that any possible cases of Covid-19 can be identified and isolated.
The aim of this pilot project is to verify the functioning of the model to lift the temporary controls on internal borders and the recovery of the freedom of movement. A ‘Monitoring Committee’ will meet every other day to check progress.
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