THE UK Government's decision to require travellers arriving in the UK from Spain to quarantine for 14 days is "very disappointing", a local tourism expert says.

Don Bircham, managing director of Hayes Travel North West, says while people's safety is paramount, the decision to require travellers arriving in the UK from Spain to quarantine for 14 days is a disappointing one.

And it comes barely week after the Leader reported that Mr Bircham and his wife were so encouraged following their own trip to Spain that the tourism industry would bounce back that he took the decision to reopen all of Hayes Travel's 39 branches in the North West.

The new coronavirus travel rule was announced on Saturday evening following a spike in the number of new cases in Spain over the last week, leading to a partial lockdown in an area west of Barcelona.

But Mr Bircham says the spike is not affecting the traditional tourist hotspots of Costa del Sol and the Canary Islands, and he anticipates quarantine for those islands to be quickly lifted.

Mr Bircham, who manages local Hayes Travel branches in Wrexham, Mold, Flint, Connah's Quay and Chester, said: “The safety of our customers is always paramount for us but this blanket decision on travel to and from Spain is very disappointing.

“The spikes in Covid-19 cases have been in Catalonia and the Basque region while major tourist areas on the Costa del Sol and in the Balearic and Canary Islands have lower infection rates than the UK.

“We expect that quarantine for those islands may be lifted quite quickly and indeed our customers seem to share that view as we are still taking bookings for those areas for late August and September.

“Holidays remain available for Greece, Turkey, Italy and France and again interest remains high.”