Nothing preventing English tourists from driving in to Portugal from Spain

The UK is set to open travel corridors on July 6, allowing British tourists to avoid quarantine on their return to the country, with a set of European countries to be released later this week, after being delayed from today.

The BBC had already revealed on Saturday that the list of countries will include Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Norway and Turkey, but not Portugal or Sweden.

However, a British Government spokesman quoted by the BBC has acknowledged that nothing prevents a British tourist from traveling to an airport in Spain, driving by car to Portugal and, after holidays, returning to their country in the same way, by car to Spain and from there by plane to the United Kingdom. Portugal and Spain are set to reopen land borders on July 1.

Portugal’s Secretary of State for Tourism, Rita Marques, stressed to the BBC that Portugal was named the safest destination in Europe by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and is a “clean & safe” destination.

“Some countries are on this list and Portugal is fighting for a place,” said the Secretary of State, adding that the situation is “completely under control” and a significant number of tests are being carried out.

Cited by the BBC, a government spokesman said the new rules would give Britons “the opportunity for a summer vacation abroad”, but stressed that the relief of measures depends on maintaining a low risk of spreading the virus. The Government “will not hesitate to halt” the new rules if the epidemiological situation develops unfavourably, considering the opening of air corridors to be “encouraging”, but asking that they be extended to more countries, namely Portugal, the destination of around 3 million British tourists annually.