Spain looking to scrap 90 day rule for Brits

Spain wants to eliminate the 90-day limit for UK visitors, allowing them to stay in the country indefinitely, as they were previously allowed to before Brexit.

Currently, visitors from outside the European Union (EU), including the UK, can visit Schengen countries for 90 days in every 180-day period.

According to a report Spain will ask Brussels to lift this rule for British tourists, with Spain’s Secretary of Tourism, Fernando Valdés, stating that this restriction “goes against the interests of Spain”, adding that “it is a rule that, unfortunately, is not something that Spain has established by itself or can get rid of”.

Spain now intends to pressure Brussels to exempt British tourists from the rule, stating to the press in Spain that “it is in the country’s interest to lobby and convince [the EU] to make an exception”.

Before the pandemic, Spain received around 84 million tourists a year, with 17 million traveling from the UK, with that number falling with the start of pandemic restrictions.

However, the numbers have started to rise again this year, with 1.8 million Britons visiting Spain in the first quarter of 2022.

With tourism accounting for around 12% of Spain’s GDP, Brexit has made travel between the two countries more difficult as the UK pulled out of EU-wide free movement agreements.

However, Spain is eager to see the British return, with details of a bilateral agreement that will allow tourism workers to remain in Spain during the holiday season.