Spain wants to remove the 90-day restriction on visitors from the UK and let them remain there indefinitely.
Visitors from outside the EU are only permitted to stay in the Schengen region for 90 days out of every 180 days.
Spain, however, plans to request that this restriction be relaxed for British tourists from the EU.
According to Fernando Valdés, Spain’s tourism secretary, the limitation is counterproductive to Spain’s interests.
He told the I newspaper, “Unfortunately, [the rule] is not something Spain has established by itself or can get rid of.
“It is true that some issues have arisen with people wishing to remain longer since Brexit,”
According to Valdés, Spain intends to push Brussels to waive the rule for British visitors.
“It is in our best interests to lobby for and persuade [the EU] that we can attempt to work out an exception with them. But they must provide the solution,” he said.
Prior to the pandemic, Spain received approximately 84 million visitors per year. A whopping 17 million of these visitors were from the United Kingdom.
With the implementation of pandemic restrictions, the number fell.
However, numbers have begun to rise again this year, with 1.8 million British tourists expected to visit Spain in the first quarter of 2022.
Tourism accounts for 12% of the Spanish economy.
However, as the UK exits EU-wide free movement agreements, travel between the two countries has become more difficult.
Conversations about residency permits and tourism have frequently stalled. After talks broke down in May, British expats were barred from driving in the country using their UK licenses.
However, Spain is eager to welcome British citizens back. They are also negotiating the specifics of a bilateral agreement that will allow tourism workers to remain in Spain throughout the holiday season.
Would that all Schengen countries allow for longer stays!