Spain set to relax Covid vaccination requirements for children from countries outside the EU
Response comes after criticism from the tourism sector about the impact on British families hoping to holiday in Spain
The Spanish government has bowed to pressure from the tourism sector and will relax the vaccine requirements for children travelling to Spain from outside the European Union as of midnight on 14 February.
From that date, children aged between 12 and 17 years of age from the UK and elsewhere outside the EU will be able to enter Spain by presenting a negative antigen test or a PCR taken 72 hours or less prior to arrival.
Children aged 12 or under, travelling with an adult, will not be subject to any type of health requirement.
With half term holidays looming in the UK, the Spanish tourism sector is keen to attract British holidaymakers and their children. Hoteliers have welcomed the “180-degree turn” by the government but some say “it is a little late” and that bookings have been lost or cancelled as a result. The number of British passengers arriving at Malaga Airport was down 2.2 million in 2021 compared to 2019.
The government said it was responding “to the situation of inequality which affects the conciliation of those families in which, due to current regulations, vaccinated parents cannot travel with their children due to lack of access to vaccine by the latter.”
