As of this Monday, 7 June, Spain is easing coronavirus control measures and opening its borders to all passengers entering the country who can show they are fully-vaccinated against the disease.

Travellers must have received the complete schedule of one of the vaccines recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) or the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The measure had been announced by Spain’s PM, Pedro Sánchez, at the last Fitur International Tourism Fair in Madrid and is seen as an important step to promote the principle of reciprocity and start receiving travellers from countries that still do not allow the arrival of people from Spain.

Sánchez said that it heralds "a new stage of overcoming the pandemic, repairing the damage and the transformation of the country is beginning."

International cruises

In addition, as from 7 June, cruise ships from other countries, banned since the outbreak of the pandemic, are also able to dock in Spain again.

The Port of Malaga, which in 2019 received half a million cruise passengers a year, is confident of being able to recover this activity by autumn after the interest shown by the main shipping companies in the meetings that have been held during the Covid-19 crisis.

The return of the international cruise ships to the Costa del Sol will take time, since the ships, schedules and berths all have to be prepared.

It remains to be seen whether Spain has lost ground in this sector, as other countries have already restarted cruising activities. Neither is it clear what impact the new 'bubble cruises' will have on cities like Malaga, as passenger contact with residents is reduced to a minimum. It will take time before groups of cruise ship passengers will be seen wandering freely through the shops and restaurants in the city centre again.