ARCHIVED - French Government discourages residents from booking holidays in Spain and Portugal
The principal concern is the sudden increase in Covid cases and the spread of new variants
French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, has issued a recommendation to French residents to avoid holidaying in Spain and Portugal due to the rapid increase in covid cases in both countries and the spread of new variants.
In an interview on France 2 television, Beaune justified his comments by saying that the situation in these two countries is "particularly worrying" and stated that the French government was considering imposing travel restrictions "in the coming days.”
Spain and Portugal are principal tourist destinations for French holidaymakers.
Cataluña, which borders with France, is particularly popular, but is currently the worst-affected region of Spain, and has experienced a massive surge in new cases during the last two weeks, with case numbers increasing more than sevenfold during that period. Currently Cataluña has an accumulated incidence rate over 14 days of 556 cases per 100,000 of population, more than double the national average which yesterday reached 252 and put Spain once more into “extreme risk”territory.
"Those who have not yet booked a holiday, should avoid Portugal and Spain," he said.