Germany among other is removing some regions of Spain and Portugal from its list of coronavirus risk areas from Sunday, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said on Friday. This includes the Balearic islands, one of the most popular destination of Germans.
The latest version of the RKI’s list on its website said Spain’s Balearic islands, Castile-La Mancha, Valencia and Extremadura regions among others are no longer considered risk areas, meaning travellers from there will not need to quarantine upon arrival back in Germany.
RKI is also removing the Portuguese regions of Alentejo, Centro, Norte and the Azores from the risk areas category. Portugal’s daily tally of new COVID-19 cases has been falling after nearly two months of lockdown, and the government will ease restrictions from next week.
But other popular tourist destinations in Portugal such as the capital Lisbon and the popular Algarve region are still considered risk areas on RKI’s list.
Infection incidence has also fallen sharply in Spain. The seven-day incidence on the popular island of Mallorca stands at 20 new cases per 100,000 people, far below Germany’s 72.4 at the moment.
Spain’s health ministry this week proposed banning travel between different regions of the country to prevent the Easter holidays sparking a resurgence of infections.
Germany’s move was welcomed by tourism operators and associations. “With the lifting of the travel warning for the Balearic Islands, the prospects of holidaymakers for an Easter holiday under the sun are improving,” the German Travel Association (DRV) said in a statement.
It said the move also improves the prospects for people living in holiday regions. Tour operator TUI said it would start offering flights to Mallorca from Hanover, Duesseldorf and Frankfurt on March 21 and expected a jump in last-minute bookings for the Easter season.
Other tour operators also flank the re-opening of Majorca with consumer campaigns: DER Touristik offers free PCR tests worth €129 for trips to Majorca between March 27 and April 30, and FTI Group lures customers with rebates of up to €150 for any last-minute bookings for the Balearic island before March 15.
Lufthansa announced it would double its number of flights for the Easter travel season. Capacity to the Canary Islands from Munich would be doubled, service to Mallorca from Frankfurt even more than tripled.
