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* Britain advises against all holiday travel to mainland
Spain
* Travellers from Spain to Britain face two-week quarantine
* Change comes as UK transport minister Shapps holidays in
Spain
* Tour operator TUI cancels Sunday flights from UK to Spain
* Spain's economy hugely reliant on tourism
(Updates with TUI statement, transport minister Shapps)
By David Milliken and Graham Keeley
LONDON/BARCELONA, July 25 (Reuters) - Britain abruptly
imposed a two-week quarantine on all travellers arriving from
Spain after a surge of coronavirus cases, a dramatic and sudden
reversal on Saturday to the opening of the European continent to
tourism after months of lockdown.
The quarantine requirement takes effect from midnight (2300
GMT on Saturday), making it almost impossible for travellers to
avoid it by rushing home.
The British foreign ministry also advised against all but
essential travel to mainland Spain, a move likely to prompt tour
operators to cancel package holidays and trigger claims against
insurers.
Europe's biggest travel company TUI said
it was cancelling all departures on Sunday to Spain from the
United Kingdom, and was urgently reviewing future flights.
"We're incredibly disappointed that we didn't get more
notice of this announcement, or that this decision wasn't made
yesterday, as many Brits travel on holiday at the weekend," said
TUI's UK managing director, Andrew Flintham.
EasyJet and British Airways said they did
not plan to cancel flights over the coming days.
Spain's Canary and Balearic Islands are not covered by the
advice to avoid travel to the mainland, but holidaymakers
returning to Britain from the islands will still be subject to
quarantine on return.
Britain's government urged employers to be "understanding"
towards staff who are unable to return to work for two weeks
after coming back from holiday.
Transport minister Grant Shapps himself will be subject to
quarantine, after a spokesman confirmed that he is currently on
holiday in Spain.
The British move followed steps this week by other European
countries. On Friday Norway said it would re-impose a 10-day
quarantine requirement for people arriving from Spain, while
France advised people not to travel to Spain's northeastern
region of Catalonia.
But the total collapse of tourism from Britain would have
far more impact. Britons made up more than 20% of foreign
visitors to Spain last year, the largest group by nationality.
Tourism normally accounts for 12% of Spain's economy.
Spain had been on a list of countries that the British
government had said were safe for travellers to visit - meaning
tourists returning home would not have to go into quarantine.
The announcement of such lists just weeks ago had allowed
Europe's tourism sector to begin to revive after the near total
shut-down prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Responding to the British measures, Spain said on Saturday
it was a safe country with localised, isolated and controlled
outbreaks of the coronavirus.
A Spanish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Spain "respects
decisions of the United Kingdom" and was in touch with the
authorities there.
The British move will affect not just Spain's tourism sector
but airlines and travel companies struggling to get back to
business.
Britain's opposition Labour Party said the news was "deeply
concerning" and called for support for British people affected.
A 'SAFE' COUNTRY
Antonio Perez, the mayor of Benidorm, a resort on Spain's
Costa Blanca that is hugely dependent on British tourists,
called the move "another tough blow".
"We have suffered a lot this year and then this happened. We
thought that the British were going to come back but this makes
things harder for now," he said.
Spain was one of the worst hit countries in Europe by the
pandemic, with more than 290,000 cases and over 28,000 deaths.
It imposed very strict lockdown measures to contain the spread,
gradually easing them earlier this summer.
But the last few weeks saw a surge of cases, forcing local
lockdowns to be reimposed in some areas.
On Friday Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya
told CNN that like many countries around the world that have
managed to control the disease, Spain "has outbreaks but the
governments -- both national and regional -- are working to
isolate cases as soon as they appear".
The Catalonia region reported 1,493 new coronavirus cases
and three deaths on Saturday. The regional government has urged
residents of Barcelona to stay at home, and ordered all discos
to shut from Saturday for the next 15 days.
Britain itself has been the worst hit country in Europe by
the pandemic, with more than 328,000 cases and an official death
toll of more than 45,600.
(Reporting by David Milliken; Additional reporting by Graham
Keeley in Barcelona; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Frances
Kerry and Daniel Wallis)
