The Spanish Balearic Islands saw a 13.4% increase in bookings last week

The Balearic Islands in Spain saw 13.4% more tourist bookings last week, a travel platform reveals.

According to TravelgateX, a 151.4% increase in bookings was recorded this week, compared to the previous year – more than 2000% more than in mid-March 2020 when COVID-19 hit, SchengenVisaInfo reports. .com.

A survey carried out in all Spanish municipalities shows that 20.45% of reservations are made more than two months in advance, while 15.46% are made around three months.

With these figures, the Balearic Islands concentrate 15.88% of reservations in Spain, behind Andalusia and Catalonia.

However, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) continues to call on Britons with passports from before October 2018 to align their travel documents with the new EU requirements.

“If you plan to travel to an EU country (excluding Ireland), or to Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino or Vatican City, you must meet the Schengen area passport requirements.” FCDO explains, also noting that for those with expired travel documents, they must apply for a new one before travelling.

The same clarification specifies that a passenger’s passport must be issued less than ten years before the date of entry and valid for at least three more months before planning a return trip to the country or elsewhere.

In addition, Portugal, a neighboring country of Spain also known for tourism, is having a promising season, as a recent study by Rightmove revealed that tourist sites in Portugal have jumped by 24% in the last year and by 25% extra in the last week as summer vacation approaches.

In addition, Porto Santo, Comporta south of Lisbon and Vila Real de Santo António in the Algarve are the main destinations for summer holidays in the country.

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However, as several countries have lifted travel requirements in the EU, Spain and Portugal remain among those that still have restrictions in place. Specifically, a test certificate is carried out 72 hours before travel, or a recovery or vaccination certificate is required by the authorities to enter these countries.

On the other hand, countries without restrictions for travelers are Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, Slovenia, Romania, Hungary, Iceland, Poland, Norway , Lithuania, Ireland and Latvia. Other countries will not allow travelers unless they present a valid test, recovery or vaccination certificate.

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