The Association of Air Lines (ALA) requested yesterday to reinforce the police force at airport controls, to avoid "giving a bad image to tourists arriving in Spain this summer."
This was stated by its president Javier Gándara, after welcoming the publication yesterday in the Official State Gazette (BOE) of the new regulations for access to Spain for tourists from countries outside the European Union.
From this Sunday, the Spanish authorities will allow access with a vaccination or diagnosis certificate as was the case until now, but also with the presentation of a negative covid test, PCR carried out 72 hours before arrival in Spain or antigens 24 hours in advance. .
“This is going to allow many families with teenage children, both British and of other nationalities, who until now had problems for both legal and technical reasons in obtaining said certificates, to choose our country as a holiday destination instead of other neighboring countries”, Gándara celebrated while warning of the difficulties involved in the access procedures.
The president of the association that represents the main airlines with activity in Spain already demanded a month ago a greater police force in the controls of Spanish airports to channel more fluidly the access of international travelers. At that time, the first crowds for Holy Week had barely formed at the Madrid airport. Now with the intensity of international movements he has complicated the situation and assured that "it is necessary to avoid the undesirable queues that we have seen in recent weeks unfortunately."
The concern is especially evident in the case of the British, the country from which the largest number of foreign visitors to Spain come, who have been left outside the rules of the European Union after Brexit and an audience that they strive to capture the main holiday destinations in the European Union.
To such an extent that, according to the president of ALA Portugal, he has approved a regulation that will allow them to be treated at the borders as if they were EU citizens.
Along these lines, Javier Gándara claims similar treatment in Spain. “Another possibility is that during this summer, as Portugal has done, British passengers are allowed to use the automatic machines used by the rest of the community travelers and in this way decongest the filters and avoid giving a bad image of our country to all tourists. who visit us”, he points out.
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