It's official: Spain will open its borders with Portugal and France on June 22nd. The announcement was made this morning by the Spanish Minister of Tourism. The Spanish authorities had closed the borders in mid-March, except for Spanish citizens, border workers and the transport of goods when the country isolated itself to limit the contagion of the coronavirus. Lisbob, the expatriate assistant, tells you all about the reopening of the Spanish borders.
OFFICIAL - Spain to open borders on June 22
The Spanish Ministry of Tourism announced on Thursday that the Spanish land borders will reopen for Portuguese and French tourists. In this new advance by the agency "Reuters", the Minister of Tourism Reyes Maroto guarantees "that there will be a tourist season" in the country.
Although he had already made the announcement, Maroto added at the press conference that the measure had not yet been approved by the governments of Portugal and France. The opening of the land borders was initially scheduled for July 1st, but it seems that Spain is retreating under pressure from its European neighbors.
Reyes Maroto also informed that the Ministry of Tourism was working on tourist experiences for certain regions in the second half of June, and that the tour operator TUI should bring 6,000 German tourists to visit the Balearic archipelago around the island of Mallorca.
Since March, Spanish borders have only been open to frontier workers and freight drivers as a precaution for the spread of the new coronavirus. The issue of reopening borders is a key problem in Europe, as the countries affected by the pandemic are trying to reopen their economies and are gradually returning to allow freedom of movement without borders.
On Tuesday, Italy reopened its international borders to European tourists. Switzerland, Austria and Germany are expected to adopt the same measure on June 15th.
