The Diplomat
The ambassador of the United Kingdom in Spain, Hugh Elliott, made this week a working visit to the Balearic Islands, where he expressed his confidence that the next British tourist season will be “a success” despite the reintroduction of the passport.
Elliott was received on Monday by the President of the Balearic Government, Francina Armengol, together with the Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs, Rosario Sanchez; and the Consul General of the United Kingdom in Catalonia, Aragon, Andorra and the Balearic Islands, Lloyd Millen; and the Deputy Consul of the United Kingdom in the Balearic Islands, Lucy Gorman. The aim of the meeting was to analyze the tourist prospects for next summer, the situation of British residents in the Balearic Islands and the work done by British tour operators to avoid “excess tourism”.
“Many thanks to Francina Armengol for her warm welcome to the Islands,” said the ambassador via his Twitter account. He also thanked “the Balearic Government for the cooperation in terms of tourism security for this upcoming 2022 season, which we wish to be a success.”
In statements to the press, the ambassador assured that the data are “very encouraging” and a “very active and promising” tourist season is expected this coming summer, so he was confident that the islands will once again have the 3.7 million British visitors it had in 2019, before the pandemic.
He also played down the importance of the reintroduction of British passports to enter Spain (mandatory since last October 1, once the transitional period following the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union is over) and expressed his hope that the entry and exit through Balearic and European airports in general will be “as smooth as possible”.
The British Government has recommended its citizens to apply for their passports ten weeks in advance because of the high number of travel requests. In this regard, Elliott admitted that it is “true that there are delays,” but the British authorities are doing their best to expedite the delivery of passports to all tourists. “These are temporary problems, a small hiccup that will be resolved,” he said.
