GUIDEPOST LOVES GOOD NEWS: THE UK AND GERMANY LOOK TO THE CANARY ISLANDS FOR A GREAT WINTER’S HOLIDAY

A typically idyllic winter holiday in the idyllic pre-Covid-19 Canaries. Throw
in the masks and social distancing and that’s what holidaymakers
from England and Germany would be getting. (Photo taken in
the Canary Islands one December in the pre-Covid era.)

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by Jack Wright

Brits are allowed by their government to go sun themselves in the balmy Canary Islands starting 25 October 2020. The UK Minister for Transport, Grant Shapps, has just included — returned, to be more precise — the Islands to the list of safe destinations. Conversely, the inhabitants of this southern archipelago off mainland Spain may now travel to England without undergoing quarantine and other travel restrictions. (Click here for more specifics.)

Germans on holiday.

Same goes for the Germans.

In view of the new four-week national lockdown decreed by the British Government for England, effective 5 November 2020, it must be noted that “the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office] has a global advisory against ‘all but essential’ travel but exempts destinations that do not pose an unacceptably high risk for British travelers.” See the official website of the UK Government‘s  “Countries, territories and regions on the travel corridor list”  published 3 July 2020 and last updated 29 October 2020.

The opening up of the “travel corridor” between England and the Canaries, and between Germany and the Canaries, is an enormous relief, or, in the words of Spanish Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, an “excellent news which gives the Islands a new opportunity to start their winter tourist season with a better outlook.” More so because the UK and Germany are the two countries that send the highest number of tourists to the Canary Islands.

Brits on a walking holiday in Gran Canaria in the depth of winter.

Reyes Maroto was quick to point out that “the Central Government [of Spain], together with the Regional Government of the Canary Islands, the island councils, the tourist towns and social stakeholders in the Canary Islands have been working hard in recent months to strengthen the image of the Canary Islands as a safe destination, work that is beginning to bear fruit.

Minister of Tourism Reyes Maroto.

Note, however, that the regional government of the Canary Islands will require foreign as well as national visitors to come equipped with a certificate of a negative test for the coronavirus 48 or 72 hours before departure for the Islands.

In the absence of the test certificate, the visitors will be required, at their own expense, to test at a health center or laboratory on arrival, before they are allowed to proceed with their vacation on the Islands.

Keep up-to-date with the latest developments. The UK Government warns: “Countries, territories and regions can be taken off or added to this travel corridor list at any time.”

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Images
Featured image/ Thomas Depenbusch (Depi), CC BY2.0
Walking holiday/Christine McIntosh, CC BY-ND2.0
Minister Maroto/ PP Comunidad de Madrid, CC BY2.0, cropped