European countries are continuing to reduce entry restrictions placed on visitors from the United States, and Spain is the latest to join this trend.
After only allowing vaccinated Americans to travel there between June 7 and 25, it dropped that requirement. A recent negative COVID-19 test result is still required to board the plane.
Another caveat that Americans who are already abroad should take note of is that these new regulations only apply to those taking flights from the U.S. to Spain. Transiting a third country is allowed, but spending any non-transit time in third countries in between invalidates this arrangement.
The lone requirement that Americans flying from the U.S. will need to meet is receiving and showing a QR code that is generated after visiting the Spain Travel Health (SpTH) portal. This may be done at any point after travel-related details are available.
Of course, any travelers looking to take advantage of these changing regulations are encouraged to keep abreast of the situation in the days and hours leading up to their trip as they can change on short notice.
Would-be travelers should also take note of the COVID-19-related restrictions that all within Spain must follow. Currently, they include needing to wear a mask while riding public transportation and in most indoor settings. However, Spain no longer requires masks to be worn outdoors.
Also, sports events, such as soccer and basketball games, taking place in Spain will now be played in front of larger numbers of fans. Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, Spain’s top soccer league, said that he hopes that stadiums in his league will be at least 70% full when its 2021-22 season starts in August.
One of the main reasons why Spain is gradually reopening its borders is due to its increasing vaccination rate. As of Monday, 34% of Spaniards are fully vaccinated with an additional 18% having received at least one dose of a two-dose vaccine. Meanwhile, the number of newly confirmed cases in the country are at a rate of 4,000 a day, an 18% decrease from that figure two weeks ago.