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UK citizens will soon be able to travel to Spain without facing quarantine, Spanish officials said.
From Sunday, Britons travelling into Spain will be “freely” welcomed along with visitors from the European Union. On arrival, they will need to register to the Spanish government to trace them.
However anyone returning to Britain would still need to quarantine for 14 days under the UK government’s current rules.
Spain’s foreign minister, Arancha González Laya, said the decision had been made “out of respect” for the 400,000 Britons who have second homes in Spain.
“We will allow British visitors to enter Spain just like the rest of the European Union as from June 21 freely and without the need for a quarantine,” she told BBC News.
“We’re discussing with the UK authorities to see if they would do the same on their side, we nevertheless are doing this out of respect for the 400,000 British citizens that have a second residence in Spain and are dying to benefit from their homes in our country.”
She added: “We do hope [the UK government] will be sensitive to the 250,000 Spaniards that are also living in the UK and would like to enter the UK without a quarantine.”
Upon arrival in Spain, visitors will face a “triple check” on their origin, temperature and contact point in order to stem the spread of the virus.
The Foreign Office is still currently advising British nationals against all but essential international travel.
Boris Johnson is facing pressure to form so-called ‘air bridges’ with countries that have coronavirus under control to exempt them from the quarantine.
The UK government is expected to outline the next phase of its plan for borders on June 29.