The CEHAT Spanish confederation of hotel associations is expressing its dismay at a Spanish government and European Commission requirement for British children aged 12 to 16 to have been double vaccinated. CEHAT says that this has produced "tens of thousands of cancellations of British reservations in Spain".
The confederation is pointing to the "incoherence and devastating effect" of this measure. Vaccination of children started only some weeks ago, so there is no time for two vaccines to be given in advance of holidays over the Christmas holidays to the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean coast and some cities that were "in great demand for family tourism".
CEHAT cannot understand how a child from Schengen countries with a higher incidence of Covid cases than the UK can enter Spain without being vaccinated and with just a negative antigen test. Restricting the entry of children from the UK to Spain this Christmas means that many British families have decided not to come to Spain.
Reservations are said to fallen by 60%; 60,000 reservations of one of the main UK tour operators have been affected.