As of midnight Thursday, Spain will eliminate health control measures for people from countries outside the European Union or Schengen associated countries, such as the United Kingdom, in view of the evolution of the pandemic and to encourage the normalisation of international mobility, according to the Official State Gazette (BOE) published today.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, health control measures have been established in Spain for international passengers at entry points into Spain, such as the UK, which are currently limited to people coming from these countries.
It is considered that measures limiting international mobility should be applied in compliance with the general principles of EU law, “and should not go beyond what is strictly necessary to safeguard public health” and should be lifted when the epidemiological situation, particularly in hospitals, so permits. “As of October 21, the health control measures for passengers from non-EU or Schengen associated countries are without effect,” the Spanish Ministry of Interior wrote on its official Twitter account earlier today.
Based on this statement, travellers who are not citizens of the EU can now enter Spain even if they do not hold a valid vaccination, recovery, or test certificate. In addition, they are not required to follow any other additional measures.
Apart from not being required to present one of the Coronavirus certificates upon their arrival in Spain, travellers also do not need to complete the health control form.
This requirement was dropped earlier in September, as, according to the authorities, it was no longer necessary to fill in such a form.
As for the vaccination rates, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control shows that Spain has administered 103,064,170 Coronavirus vaccines as of October 20. The same reveals that until now, 86.0 per cent of the entire adult population has completed primary vaccination, and another 66.3 per cent have received the first booster shot.
Now that third-country travellers are no longer subject to entry rules when reaching Spain, it is believed that the number of those choosing the country as a travel destination will increase.
Previously, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported that a total of 8.8 million international tourists visited Spain in August alone, representing an increase of 87 per cent compared to the same period in 2019.