Five thousand English tourists "challenge" Boris Johnson and return to the Costa Blanca

Winds of change. The fact that from this week the British can go on vacation outside the islands again , and despite the fact that in the case of Spain the British government maintains the obligation to keep ten days of quarantine in their homes upon return , has encouraged the English trips, as evidenced by the fact that this Tuesday the airport had 12 flights to London (arrivals and departures) in its schedule , among which four operations of the British Airways company stood out, which meant their return to the terminal. A still small figure, but it is surprising because two weeks ago the airport barely had connections with the United Kingdom, and the few were limited to weekends.This week the forecast is that 5,000 British tourists, residents, will return to the province . Something is beginning to move and everything points to the Government taking advantage of the Fitur celebration -the fair starts this Wednesday in Madrid- to totally lift the restrictions still in force today for passengers from the United Kingdom, given the low level of incidence of the covid for every one hundred thousand passengers. The planned release for so-called covid-free third-country passengers, or with a minimal incidence from May 20, includes Great Britain after its exit from Brexit .

Five thousand English tourists "challenge" Boris Johnson and return to the Costa Blanca

This Tuesday was a day of hope for the airport and the Costa Blanca, and although the restriction to British people who are not residents (70,000 on the Costa Blanca) is still in force, they themselves begin to travel "defying" the quarantine at home. return . Many return to spend several weeks at home and, also, because there is hope - the return of British Airways to the airport is significant - that the government of Boris Johnson is reconsidering the veto to Spain after the advance of vaccination and that reduce the incidence of covid, which yesterday was 150 cases per one hundred thousand inhabitants. The Alicante-Elche airport has scheduled this week, according to airline sources, a total of 62 flights with the United Kingdom, 36 next weekend, which will allow a movement of 5,000 tourists, although none to the hotels, those most damaged by the restrictions, as shown by having accumulated a billion euros in losses. The connecting destinations are Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, London, Liverpool and Manchester.

There are 20 days left for there to be a new revision of the traffic light and in the Ministry of Tourism of Reyes Maroto there is confidence that Spain can be "green" in the next revision . Meanwhile, however, the British Prime Minister yesterday asked his citizens again not to travel to Spain because they are in "amber" in covid incidence. This Tuesday the province returned, for its part, to beat a positive record. Less than 25 cases per one hundred thousand inhabitants, one of the best ratios in Europe.

The visitors are residents but this week Spain is expected to lift the ban on conventional tourists

However, the conventional British tourist, the one that until 2019 filled the hotels, is still lacking and is the reason why three out of four hotels in cities like Benidorm are closed. This Tuesday the Don Pancho reopened and little by little hotels are being added to the offer but everything will depend on the famous Boris Johnson traffic light. Meanwhile, the "guiri" area of ​​Benidorm is still at half gas and up for works, as is the case of Mallorca Street, but some stores have reopened to receive those resident tourists who also consume.

On the other hand, the Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport has received the certification of the Airport Health Accreditation program from the Airports Council International (ACI), as a safe airport against covid. ACI has evaluated the installation of protective screens (275 screens distributed in different points of the terminals: check-in counters, boarding gates, health controls, security filters, passenger information points), informational signage through digital screens, posters and Public address system with messages on the use of a mask, personal distance, hand hygiene, as well as marks and traces of social distancing (more than 4,400 marks) or cancellation of seats (1,300 sealing tapes have been placed). Aena has produced 84 new messages, that include all these variations in different languages, and more than 400 adaptations have been created for the different spaces of the infrastructures. In addition, nearly 300 hydroalcoholic gel dispensers and other contactless items such as taps and soap dishes have been installed (more than 180 new units).