Spain planning to scrap the 90-day limit for UK visitors, allowing them to stay in the country indefinitely. Tourists from other nations are only allowed to visit Schengen area countries for 90 days in every 180-day period.
“Spain would like to end the rule that permits non-EU travelers from visa-free countries to stay in the Schengen area for only 90 days within any six months, in order to enable travelers, including British holidaymakers, to stay in Spain indefinitely, when visiting for tourism purposes”, Spanish Tourism Secretary Fernando Valdés told the i newspaper in an interview.
He added, “Unfortunately, the rule is not something Spain has established by itself or can get rid of, It is true that after Brexit some problems have emerged with people wanting to stay longer”.
“It is in our interest to lobby and convince the EU, we can try to work an exception with them. But the solution must come from them,” he said.
Before the pandemic, Spain received around 84 million tourists per year. A whopping 17 million of these visitors came from Britain.
However, numbers started to surge again this year, with 1.8 million Brits visiting Spain in the first quarter of 2022. Spain relies on tourism for 12 percent of its GDP.
But Brexit has made travel between the two countries more difficult, as the UK exits EU-wide free movement agreements.
