Isha Sesay
IN a whirlwind tour of the Balearic Islands, the British Ambassador to Spain has expressed his optimism that Britons will be able to holiday in the archipelago this summer.
As part of a tour in aim of ‘reactivating British tourism in Spain’, Ambassador Hugh Elliot visited Ibiza and Mallorca this week, two islands which usually welcome millions of holidaying Brits each year.
Yesterday, Elliot met with Balearic president Francina Armengol and other important members of the government such as tourism minister Iago Negueruela and finance minister Rosario Sanchez.
Here, Elliot said that the Balearics had much in favour for them to be considered a ‘territory independent of the peninsula’ in the UK’s soon to be revealed traffic light system of COVID-19 risk levels for travel.
“We will have to wait a few more weeks to know the UK’s decision on whether British tourists will be able to return to the islands this year”, said Elliot.
The ambassador also explained that for tourism to be re-activated, three things would need to happen first:
“First, the British have to allow it, secondly, we must wait for Sanchez’s government to re-evaluate the ban on the British in Spain, and thirdly, we need a good outcome of the vaccine campaigns.”
The tour marked Elliot’s first ever visit to the Balearic Islands, a matter he was teased about by members of the government.
“I don’t know why I haven’t come before, I have no excuse,” he joked.
“It is a serious error of mine that I am correcting – my first official trip had to be been postponed due to the pandemic.”
READ MORE:
- EXPLAINER: What we know about Spain’s plans to welcome tourists with ‘vaccine passport’ from June
- Spain ready to welcome British and international tourists in June under ‘vaccine passport’ scheme
- Passport to paradise? Mallorca and Ibiza want to welcome holidaymakers with COVID jab as early as May
