British tourists NOT WELCOME in mainland Europe amid coronavirus crisis, new report suggests

The Covid-19 pandemic has left people in Germany, Italy, Spain and France more likely to oppose British holidaymakers visiting without self-isolating than they would tourists from any other European nation, new research has found.

A survey published by UK market research company YouGov showed that mainland Europeans’ biggest concerns were with Britons coming over to holiday in their countries without some form of quarantine.

The poll, which spoke to citizens in ten countries on the UK's air bridge quarantine-exemptions list, found that 61 percent of Spaniards were against British tourists visiting, compared to 40-54 percent who opposed holidaymakers from a number of other European nations.

People surveyed in Germany (58 percent), France (55 percent) and Italy (44 percent) also put British holidaymakers at the top of their European ‘unwanted’ list, with only China and the US faring worse overall.

However, the poll also revealed that Britons are not so enthusiastic about welcoming tourists from other countries either, due to fears provoked by the deadly coronavirus. The majority in each case was opposed to people from other nations visiting the UK.

From Friday, British tourists can head to 74 countries on holiday without having to quarantine on their return to the UK. However, fears amongst citizens about the impact of tourism – borne out in YouGov’s poll – may escalate, with reports of Covid-19 flare-ups already being reported in a number of countries in the last few weeks.

Most recently, more than 100 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in Greece from incoming tourists since the country reopened its borders on July 1. The country has managed to keep incidents (3,622) and deaths (193) at a relatively low rate.

According to local media, 33 new cases of the virus were reported on Tuesday – 21 of which were recorded in international tourists – despite daily cases declining to an average of 13 in June.

Fresh outbreaks have already been reported in Spain, with two regions being forced back into lockdown, and Germany, where 650 cases were confirmed at a meat factory last month.

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