Brits will be the 'first tourists to return to Spain' this summer due to UK's vaccine rollout success

BRITS could be the first tourists to return to Spain due to the success of the vaccine rollout, according to local authorities.

Pedro Homar, director of the Palma Tourism Board, said UK holidaymakers could be back in the Balearic Islands as soon as May.

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While Spain's UK travel ban is currently in place until February 16, and Brits are banned from travelling abroad for holidays, Mr Homar said he was "confident" that Majorca summer holidays will return this year.

He told Telegraph Travel: "With the rate in which the UK is rolling out the vaccination, we are confident that the UK market will be one of the first to return to Palma.

"In terms of timings, we expect the UK market to return from around May onwards."

The UK has vaccinated more than 10m people with the first dose -and plans for all adults to have both jabs by August.

Mr Homar added that the return of Brits was subject to how the pandemic improves in both the UK and Spain over the next few months but said it was a "realistic target" to restart travel between the two countries.

But he warned that Easter holidays were less realistic, and it was "too soon to say".

Spain is one of the most popular holiday destinations for British tourists, with 18 million visitors in 2019.

The Balearic Islands, which attracted 3.7 million tourists in 2019, saw just 223,000 last year due to the pandemic, a drop of 93 per cent.

It has already been warned that Spain won't survive another summer season without tourists, and there were fears that Spain could be added to the UK's high-risk list, which would mean a full travel ban and a mandatory hotel quarantine on arrival.

However, it remains off the high-risk list for now.

Ryanair's Michael O'Leary said he was positive about a Spanish summer this year. He told the BBC: "We expect to see a very strong return of British families travelling to the beaches of Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece in relative safety this summer thanks to the vaccine programme."

Foreign office minister James Cleverly said that the UK's "world-class" vaccination programme is likely to open up other countries to Brits first as well, with Greece also on the cards.

Yet some MPs have been wary about offering any hope for a holiday abroad this summer, instead suggesting a UK staycation could be a safer bet.

Minister of State for Universities Michelle Donelan said: "I certainly won't be booking any summer holidays yet.

"I think it is a little bit too early. But we can all hope and dream that we will be able to get that summer vacation."

Cabinet Minister Liz Truss echoed this, telling LBC: "We have to just focus on step by step and summer holidays, I’m afraid, are a lower priority than getting kids back to school."

She added: "I think it would be very dangerous for a government minister to [make] promises about people’s summer holidays."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he had booked his summer holiday to Cornwall this year, suggesting families could look forward to a "Great British summer".

Travellers to the UK face new restrictions including hotel quarantine, to be introduced for 33 high-risk countries later this month, and potentially vaccine passports.

Currently, all arrivals to the UK must have a negative coronavirus test taken no more than 72 hours prior, as well as a Passenger Locator Form.

EasyJet boss Johan Lundgren said he didn't think vaccine passports would be needed for short-haul travel, however, and said the vaccination programme would be enough to allow safe travel.

All holidays – both domestic and international – are off the cards due to the current UK lockdown.

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