Spain has lifted all of its COVID-related entry requirements and is among the last European countries to lift travel restrictions from the pandemic era.
From Friday, October 21, international travelers coming from outside the European Union or an affiliated Schengen area (also known as third-country travelers) will no longer be required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination, recovery or a negative test in order to Spanish to enter borders.
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With this move, Spain joins the policies of almost all other EU countries, which have already removed all COVID-related barriers to entry.
For today, international visitors over the age of 12 were required to indicate that they had received a full course of COVID-19 vaccines in the past 9 months; or a recovery certificate, issued at least 11 days after the first positive test, but not older than six months. Alternatively, they may present a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of their departure on the trip or a negative rapid antigen test taken within 24 hours thereafter.
The decision was made: “Once the acute phase of the pandemic has been overcome, surveillance and control measures have been updated at the national level … largely justified by the high immunization levels seen in the Spanish population and in neighboring countries, which have led to a significant reduction in serious cases and deaths from SARS-CoV-2,” the Spanish government said in an announcement.
Earlier this year, as vaccination rates rose and serious illness rates fell, other popular tourist destinations in Europe such as the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, France and Iceland abolished their COVID-related entry requirements altogether. Elsewhere in the world, countries that had enforced particularly strict protocols during the pandemic, including Australia, New Zealand and Canada, have recently lifted their own restrictions and opened up completely to foreign tourist markets.
Spain may be a little late to take advantage of its busiest tourist season, which runs from summer to early fall. Still, many of the main source markets are located within Europe, so the country must have seen a fair amount of visitors during the hottest months of 2022. Travel + Leisure reported that more than 8.5 million international travelers visited Spain in the month of September, an impressive 87 percent increase over the same period in 2019.
Check out our interactive COVID-19 map to see current access rules and restrictions for travel around the world:
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