Should potential Brit expatriates still head for Spain?

As Spain takes its chances and opens up to tourists, Brit expats aren’t happy with the plan.

Whilst Spain’s ending of its lockdowns and opening up to tourism in order to save jobs, businesses and its economy, British expats already resident and those planning to arrive very soon aren’t so sure the loosening of regulations is a good idea. Safe travel could well be the goose which lays the golden eggs, but a second wave of covid-19 could put paid to the celebrations.

Basically, Spain and its government are as confused as are the vast majority of other countries with popular tourist destinations, but economic pressure is sure to win out in the end. For those stopped in their tracks as they prepared to relocate overseas, the dilemma is still there, as not one country knows for sure the effect of opening up too soon. Long-stay British expats in the Costas are thrilled to be allowed back on the beaches, but aren’t too sure about letting in hordes of Britons whilst the country itself is still mired in new cases. It’s not just British incomers that are seen as being a threat, as Spain is planning to open to all EU and Schengen area states next week.

For those Brits who, despite or perhaps because of the even worse but now looming threat of a no-deal Brexit, are still determined to pack up and arrive in Spain, they’ll find that property is now slightly cheaper than in pre-pandemic times, but their welcome by their already-established compatriots may be less than generous given the risks involved, especially as quarantine regulations will have been lifted by the time their flights arrive. As regards governmental confusion on both sides of the English Channel, it seems there’s neither a vaccine nor any cure.