The
OLIVE PRESS
VALENCIA / COSTA AZAHAR www.theolivepress.es FREE Vol. 1 Issue 17
I’m running things now
Your expat
Female expat makes moving tribute to her famous bullrunning dad
voice in Spain
See page 14
July 15th - July 28th 2021
Rollercoaster ride for our man getting married on the Rock during Euro final Find out how it went on page 6 Vaccine fury OVER 40,000 people have signed a petition to allow vaccinated British Expats to visit the UK without quarantining. It comes after dozens of expats expressed outrage at a rule that made them exempt and needing to quarantine on their return to see family or friends back home. The digital petition, which claimed the rule prejudiced up to six million Britons living abroad, caused a rapid response from the UK government, defending its ‘pragmatic approach’. A spokesman said: “Public health has always been our number one priority and we will not risk throwing away our hard-won achievements.” For the petition to be considered in Parliament it needs to reach 100,000 signatures. Letters special on page 10
Doomed to close
Costa Blanca hotels are left praying for the return of UK tourists - with Germans and French staying home
RECENTLY-reopened Costa Blanca hotels will have to close again if UK bookings do not pick up next month. The regional hoteliers association, Hosbec insists that it is very difficult to stay profitable without the normal masses of British tourists. The British government’s confusing and frequently-changing messages have
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already put many families off making a plunge for their summer holidays in Spain this year. But there are tens of thousands who are still planning to travel for their annual break in the sun. “If British tourists do not arrive in August, hotels are doomed to closure,” insisted Hosbec president, Toni
By Alex Trelinski
Mayor. Mayor regards the UK as almost the last hope in saving the summer season with an already gloomy outlook over visitors from France and Germany. “Rising COVID cases have reduced the hope that the
EU COVID certificate would bring in EU tourists as France and Germany are not recommending Spanish travel, which just leaves us with the British market,” said Mayor. Many hotels only reopened in late June or early this month in anticipation of relaxed UK travel rules as they are heavily dependent on the
Pollution probe
A GOLF course is among a blacklist of polluters given to a judge investigating the dumping of improperly-treated water into the Mar Menor. Judge Angel Garrote has ordered 42 agriculture-based businesses to testify, as well as the bosses Continues on Page 4
British market. From July 19, ‘fully-vaccinated’ tourists from England going to an amber-listed country like Spain will no longer have to go into self-quarantine on their return. However all British tourists, minus children under the age of four, will still need two negative COVID tests. They have to be booked before you get on your flight and can cost up to £100 (€117) each. Holidaymakers will also have to get a negative antigen test prior to flying home.
No bar
Germany last week classified the whole of Spain as ‘high risk’ for COVID-19, but there is currently no outright bar on German visitors coming to Spain if they have an EU COVID certificate. The same applies to French tourists, who are the second-highest number of foreign visitors traditionally after the UK. However a French Junior Minister suggested that both Spain and Portugal were not ‘safe destinations’, a suggestion denied by Spain’s Tourism Minister, Reyes Maroto.