Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Island and one of the most popular holiday hotspot especially for British holidaymakers has decided to close its borders to international travellers once again for the next 15 days starting Friday, December 18, 2020, encompassing Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
The decision has been undertaken due to the soaring COVID-19 cases in the island and was announced the President of the Canary government, Angel Victor Torres. Thousands of travellers are likely to see their trips cancelled, striking a further blow to the European tourism sector and shattering Spain’s holiday hopes to the Canary Islands.
President Torres mentioned that though exceptions would be made to the recent rule, no holiday travel plans will be entertained. He announced that only people travelling for health reasons, education, work, returning home, urgent judicial action, taking an official exam or an unavoidable event would be permitted to enter the island. Travellers looking after a dependent would also be able to travel in or out of Tenerife during the 15-day period.
More recently, the Canary Islands have also removed the U.K. safe travel list following the increase in coronavirus cases. Confirmed cases in Tenerife continued to rise, with the island going from well below the national Spanish average to among the highest in recent weeks. Tenerife has also been placed on ‘red’ traffic light alert for the last fortnight. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office has advised against all but essential travel to mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands, but not the Canary Islands and President Torres has mentioned that Tenerife has had to take exceptional measures to prevent further advancement of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Tags: Canary Islands, Coronavirus, Covid-19, Tenerife, Tenerife Island
