Spain hopes for tourists as EU votes on digital passportsI’m

Spain has said it hopes to open up to overseas travellers from June, as plans for an EU-wide digital certificate go before the European Parliament.

Tourism minister Fernando Valdés said a pilot test would take place in May so that Spain would be ready to receive travellers the following month.

The EU has been working on a digital pass in time for the summer holidays.

It would cover anyone who is either vaccinated against Covid-19, has a negative test or recently recovered.

Several countries have already begun using digital or paper passes to help ease local lockdowns.

Mr Valdés told a travel conference in Mexico his country would be "ready in June to tell all travellers worldwide that you can visit us". 

However, any scheme to open up to non-European tourism would be dependent on the EU's digital green certificate and Mr Valdés said it was not a magic wand.

Spain has long been a favourite destination for British holidaymakers but they will have to wait several more weeks to find out if they can start booking. From 17 May, overseas leisure travel could resume for people in England under Prime Minister Boris Johnson's roadmap for easing restrictions.

The UK government is also expected to set out which countries fall into the "green", "amber" and "red" categories under a new risk-based traffic light system. These will determine testing and quarantine requirements for travellers when they return from various countries.