As of today 21 October 2022, all remaining Covid entry restrictions to Spain are scrapped for third-country visitors.

This means there is no longer a requirement for visitors from the UK, USA, Canada and other countries from outside the European Union to show a Covid vaccination certificate, a Covid recovery certificate or a negative Covid test upon entry to Mallorca, or in fact anywhere to Spain.

The Impact of Covid Entry Restrictions on Travel

Visitors arriving from the European Union have enjoyed the freedom of travel without the requirement to present Covid paperwork on entry to Spain throughout Summer 2022.

So it came as a bitter blow to businesses on the island and to the economy that these Covid entry restrictions were upheld until now, for arrivals from third countries.

While most European countries lifted Covid entry restrictions for the Summer, Spain continued to uphold the restrictions, but only for these Third Country travellers.

The continued restrictions impacted many UK holidaymakers’ decisions to book their holiday to Spain since those who needed to take a negative Covid test ran the risk of testing positive just before their trip.

This would have resulted in the immediate cancellation of their holiday.

For many potential visitors, this was one of the main factors forcing them to choose other destinations in Europe over Spain, such as Greece, Malta or Turkey for their Summer holiday.

Many visitors who commented on the Mallorca Under the Sun social media channels also felt that upholding the covid entry restrictions was nothing to do with a health emergency since hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers were pouring into Mallorca and Spain from other European countries without having to organise Covid paperwork or take tests.

This suggested that a health pandemic became something more political.

In turn, the lengthening of restrictions came as a blow to many businesses in Mallorca’s resorts that are popular with English visitors who told me they felt the Covid restrictions kept many people from travelling.

Even worse it seems, was that on September 15th, the Spanish government upheld Covid Entry restrictions for third-country arrivals to Spain but then slowly STOPPED checking the paperwork of arrivals.

I ran a poll on the Mallorca Under the Sun community page and the Facebook Group to find only 50% of travellers were being checked when arriving at Palma de Mallorca airport at the end of September.

In the final weeks leading up to the eventual scrapping of the Covid entry restrictions in October, travellers then reported that their covid paperwork was NOT being checked.

Yet the law was that restrictions were still in place, so most unvaccinated adults were still paying for these Covid tests before travel.

One Mallorca Under the Sun Facebook member commented following her recent experience of arriving at Palma airport, “We visited recently and there were a load of people waiting to check paperwork and just waved us through. Good way for the government to waste money, pay people to sit around waving their hands.”

So what was this all about? We are yet to hear any explanation as to why Covid entry restrictions were not scrapped a lot sooner.

Covid Entry Restrictions to Spain are Scrapped – what this means to Mallorca?

However, with the Covid restrictions to Spain now scrapped, this return to frictionless travel will be a massive boost to tourism in Spain and for all those hoping to visit again.

It’s just a shame that the news comes 10 days before the end of the Summer season as hotels and businesses in resorts begin to close.

However, it’s not too late to enjoy a winter break on the island. Check out some of these things-to-do in Mallorca over the winter here.

You can find out what the winter weather in Mallorca is like here.

For more information and inspiration about visiting Mallorca, check out this page for a selection of guides to various island areas.

And for inspiration for things to do in Mallorca, check out this page here.

Don’t forget you can keep up to day with holiday news and all the latest video guides coming out on my Youtube channel here.

And for other questions about travelling to Mallorca, come and join the Facebook group which you can find here.

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