News from Canary Islands

Wondering what is the situation in the Canary Island in regards to the Coronavirus pandemic? Did you have a holiday planned in the Canary Islands which is now affected by the current situation with the Coronavirus spread? We will try to update this page with info about all the islands, as soon as there's something to report.

The Government of the Canary Islands has announced that Lanzarote and La Graciosa will move up to Alert Level 4 from the Level 3 they're currently at, due to the continued growth in the number of cases, in the hopes that they will be able to bend the contagion curve. These measures also apply to La Graciosa, which has a similar epidemiological situation to Lanzarote. On the other hand, El Hierro goes from level 1 to level 2 starting from 00:00 this Friday, tomorrow.

Due to the growing infection rate in Gran Canaria, it has been decided that the island will go up to Alert Level 3, while Tenerife has improved its numbers, so it goes down to Alert Level 2. The level changes will come into effect on Monday, January 18.

The Governing Council agreed to modify the alert levels established on the islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Gomera to face the COVID-19 pandemic and it also decided to maintain the current alert level in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, La Palma and El Hierro. However, it was decided that next Saturday the evolution of the epidemiological indicators of Tenerife and Gran Canaria will be studied again, in order to analyze the effectiveness of the measures implemented so far and verify whether a change in level would be justified.

The Council of Ministers approved today the extension of the restrictions imposed on flights with the UK with another 14 additional days, limiting not only direct flights but also passenger ships between the United Kingdom and Spain. Therefore, said restriction will be in effect until next February 2 at 6:00 p.m.

The Government of the Canary Islands has announced new levels or alert for the archipelago, which will come into force from midnight on the 11th of January (Monday) and will remain in place until January 24 (Sunday included), although they will be reviewed next week.

On the islands of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma, El Hierro (green traffic light) and La Gomera (yellow traffic light), meetings may not exceed ten people, except cohabitants, and circulation is limited between 01:30 to 06:00 am on January 1. In Tenerife (red traffic light) the meetings may not exceed 6 people, except cohabitants, and the movement of people is limited between 01:00 and 06:00 am.

The Government of Spain announced today that the restriction for flights and ships from the United Kingdom will come into effect this Tuesday, December 22nd, at 6:00 p.m. and it will last for the next 14 days, although the entry of citizens or residents in Spain or Andorra will be allowed.

The Government of Spain has decided, together with Portugal, to suspend incoming flights from the UK starting from tomorrow, except for Spanish citizens or residents, as it was announced by the Secretary of State for Communication on Monday.

The central government in Madrid has overturned the Canary Islands decree that was passed to validate antigen tests in the case of international tourists coming to the archipelago.

The President of the Canary Islands announced new restrictive measures for the island of Tenerife that will come into effect from Friday and will be in force for 15 days.

UK's Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, has just announced that the Canary Islands have been removed from UK's corridor list.

According to an announcement made last night by the central Ministry of Health, Spain will allow travelers from risk areas to arrive with a negative diagnosis of COVID using a Transcription-Mediated Amplification (TMA) test. The document certifying the negative result of the diagnostic test for active infection may be written, in addition to Spanish and English, in French and German.

UPDATE - 17 December 2020 Madrid overturned Canary Islands Decree. Book a PCR or TMA test, not antigen The Government of the Canary Islands has just announced that they will allow antigen tests for international visitors coming to the archipelago starting tomorrow, December 10th.

The government of the Canary Islands has established a set of specific measures for the celebration of the upcoming Christmas holidays, which aims to contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the COVID-19 disease.

There has been much talk about testing and what types of tests are needed for entry to the Canary Islands. The Canaries have struggled to get approval from the central government of Spain to make antigen tests accepted as a valid diagnostic test, in the case of foreign visitors coming from high-risk countries.

The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, and Minister Yaiza Castilla have met with the representatives of Jet2, the main British tourist group, in order to coordinate strategies for the restart of tourism in the near future.

In a recent statement by President von der Leyen, rapid Covid-19 antigen tests were recommended to be used as an alternative to PCR tests, where you need faster results and also constant monitoring. Also, there is talk of developing a unified digital passenger locator form, to be used by countries that sign up for the program.

The president of the Canary Islands and the Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla, have held a meeting today with the CEO of TUI, who confirmed the fact that the demand for holidays in the archipelago is still strong on the German market.

The President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, announced that new restrictions will be imposed on the island of Tenerife for at least the next 14 days, reducing capacity in bars and restaurants and limiting their opening hours.

Spain will require international travelers from high-risk countries to show a certificate for a negative PCR, done in the last 72 hours before arriving in the country. This new requirement will go into effect on November 23.

The rule establishes that as of November 14, all visitors staying in tourist accommodations in the Canary Islands will have to present a certificate with a negative diagnostic test for COVID-19.

The Council approved a decree-law aimed at facing the effects of the health and economic crisis caused by the pandemic and making the Canary Islands the first community in Spain that required a negative test from tourists.

The Government of the Canary Islands has announced their new proposal that will make possible the control of tourists who arrive in the archipelago, including both foreign or national visitors.

Yaiza Castilla assures that this initiative will be available only on a limited time frame, with the purpose to help airlines the flight schedule they had with the islands before the Covid crisis.

The Government of Spain has just announced a new State of Alarm for the entire country. This duration of the State of Alarm could be prolonged for 6 months, meaning until May 9th, 2021, if the Congress votes to approve the extension in the following days.

The municipality of Mogán, in the south of Gran Canaria, has inaugurated the first municipal area for parking and overnight stays for motorhomes and camper vans in the municipality. This area is now the first place of this kind that is managed by a local Administration in the Canary Islands.

The Government of the Canary Islands seems to have reconsidered an initial proposal according to which hotels across the archipelago would have to be responsible for carrying out the testing of tourists.

UK's Secretary of State for Transport has just announced that the Canary Islands will be removed from UK's quarantine list, in an update about travel corridors.

The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, has just announced this morning that Germany will lift the restriction on travel to the Canary Islands starting from this Saturday, October 24.

Yaiza Castilla, the Tourism Minister in the Canary Islands, held an online meeting with the CEO of Nordic Leisure Travel Group, Magnus Wikner, in order to establish the recovery of tourism towards the Canary Islands in safe conditions.

The world of Carnival will have to wait until 2022 for the celebration of another edition in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The Carnival department works on a series of acts that, throughout 2021, will keep the essence of the party alive.

TUI, the largest tour operator in the world, confirms to Ángel Víctor Torres and Yaiza Castilla its confidence in the Canary Islands, as it plans to resume its operations from Germany this Saturday.

The Ministry of Health from the Government of the Canary Islands notified 289 cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, with which the accumulated figure adds up to 12,778 cases and 6,754 active.

The president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, held a working meeting this Monday with the president of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, at the headquarters of the Presidency in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In this meeting, they talked about the evolution of the epidemic in the Canary Islands, and in Gran Canaria in particular, as well as about the prospects for the reactivation of tourism and about the phenomenon of immigration.

This is our dedicated page for updates on the Coronavirus situation in Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands in Spain. For those planning a visit to the island and wondering if it's safe to come or not, we will publish here the info regarding the total number of cases, current active cases, as well as any other details shared by the local authorities.

The Canary Islands Government has announced that there will be a winter season for cruise ships in the Canary Islands, although they will require cruise shipping companies to carry out PCR tests or serological tests on all travelers before arriving in the archipelago.

The Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands, Yaiza Castilla, held an online meeting with the CEO of the main Scandinavian tour operator Nordic Leisure Travel Group, Magnus Wikner, in order to agree on measures to boost sales of travel packages to the Canary Islands for the winter season and the establishment of safe corridors.

President Ángel Víctor Torres and the Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla, trust in being able to recover tourism, which is why it's necessary to reduce the incidence of the pandemic in the archipelago soon. This is expected to be achieved with the new measures approved and the responsibility of the population.

Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, with 143.32 and 103.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last week, respectively, are the two islands that currently exceed the indicator set by the Government of the Canary Islands for the cancellation of events with more than 10 people during the next two weeks.

Yesterday, August 27th, there has been a new extraordinary council in the Canary Islands in order to discuss new measures that could curb the spread of the virus in the archipelago. As a consequence, new restrictive measures have been announced for the islands that surpass now 100 active cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

AEMET, the State Meteorological Agency in Spain, has issued a warning for extreme heat tomorrow in the following Canary Islands: Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria.

In a new press conference, held by the spokesman for the Government of the Canary Islands, Julio Pérez, new measures were announced on top of the ones that were in effect already.

Fuerteventura will have for the first time a type of regulation in place for this phenomenon throughout the island territory, responding to an important demand from citizens.

Following the announcement of the last figures this past Sunday, the Canary Islands have officially surpassed 1000 active cases of COVID-19, after confirming 146 new cases in the last 24 h.

Following the recent announcement yesterday from the Government of the Canary Islands regarding stricter safety measures, today there is an update from the central government in Madrid, with measures that will be enforced throughout the entire Spanish territory.

The President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, announces new preventive measures due to the continuous increase in the number of infections with COVID-19 in recent weeks.

The Ministries of Health and Public Administrations, Justice and Security from the Government of the Canary Islands announced that during the second half of August the mobile application Radar COVID will be implemented throughout the territory of the Archipelago to track possible Coronavirus infections among the population, after successfully passing the pilot test carried out in La Gomera.

Yaiza Castilla, the Councilor for Tourism in the Canaries, announced that the Canary Islands are the first Autonomous Community where tourists, both Spanish and foreign, will be guaranteed travel assistance coverage in case of Covid-19, including medical expenses, health repatriation and extension of stay by quarantine.

What is the new normality in Spain and what are the rules for foreign visitors traveling to Spain this summer? The summer season of 2020 comes with some changes and new rules that we all have to respect in order to keep everyone safe.

The Governing Council approved, in its extraordinary session, the updating of certain prevention measures established by the Government Agreement of June 19, 2020, in order to better handle the health crisis caused by COVID-19.

The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, attended today, Friday, July 31, the XXI Conference of Autonomous Presidents held at the Monastery of Yuste, in San Millán de la Cogolla, in the Autonomous Community of La Rioja.

Hotels and apartment complexes in Gran Canaria are starting to reopen for the summer season after the closure caused by the Covid-19 health crisis. We have tried to create a list of places that have already announced a date for reopening,

Hotels and apartment complexes in Lanzarote are slowly starting to reopen after the closure caused by the Covid-19 health crisis. We have tried to create a list of places that have already announced a date for reopening,

Fuerteventura Tourist Board has shared on Monday, June 22, a list with the hotels that are scheduled to reopen in the coming months after the closure caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then we continue to add to the list, as we learn about new hotels starting to welcome visitors again Fuerteventura.

The UK government has just announced that it will impose a 14-day quarantine on travellers arriving from Spain. The number of Covid-19 cases in Spain has been on the rising during the past days, especially in the regions of Aragon, Navarra and Catalonia on mainland Spain.

The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla, hold talks with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Tourism and representatives of the British Government to prevent the citizens of this country from being subjected to quarantine upon returning from their holidays in the islands.

After a long and strict lockdown, the Canary Islands have started to receive international visitors again for the 2020 summer season. But many hotels, shops, restaurants and attractions haven't reopened yet and it will take some time until tourism will start to truly recover.

The new Councilor for Fiestas in Santa Cruz de Tenerife has made a statement according to which is seems that next year's carnival will not be celebrated as usually in February and might be moved at a later date in the year.

The water park in Corralejo, Fuerteventura, has just annouced that they will delay their reopening until 2021.

Non-compliance with the use of the mask, mandatory in all open and closed spaces where the minimum interpersonal distance of 1.5 meters cannot be kept, carries a penalty of up to 100 euros.

The Government of the Canary Islands will not change the rules on masks, meaning that they won't make them mandatory everywhere in public, but they will intensify the controls so that a mask is used according to the standards already approved.

The luxury hotel Ritz-Carlton, Abama reopens on July 24th with a new concept of accommodation, specially designed to ensure the safety and privacy of its guests this season: Villa Club.

Cabildo de Tenerife has announced the launch of tourist passes to encourage visitors to use the public transport network on the island. The insular counselor for Mobility highlights that this initiative is a tourist attraction that will allow visitors to move around the entire island at a fixed price, which will be more attractive than buying individual tickets.

June 15, 2020 1. Spain will reopen borders to EU states on June 21, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez tells regional chiefs. Travelers from countries outside Schengen will be permitted to enter from July 1, providing there is a reciprocal agreement on travel and taking into account the epidemiological situation in the country of origin. (El Pais - English)

TUI UK, the single largest tour operator in the Canary Islands, has just announced that it's canceling all holidays from the UK that we're supposed to take place before July 11, 2020. Although Spain has ...

June 6, 2020 - POSITIVE NEWS CANARY ISLANDS 1. Fuerteventura will recover 70% of international flights this summer. The market with the largest number of flights will once again be Germany, with 66 direct flights a week forecast for this summer. It is followed by the United Kingdom, with 65 weekly operations. The rest of the bulk of area connectivity is divided between Italy (12), the Netherlands (10), Poland (7) and France (6), while to lesser extent companies have scheduled operations from destinations such as Sweden (5), Denmark (5), Switzerland (5), Ireland (5) or Belgium (3). (Diario de Fuerteventura)

The official page for Tourism in Gran Canaria (Gran Canaria Turismo) has published a list of flights to the island in the upcoming month, after the movement restrictions will be lifted and Spain will start to allow once again foreign visitors to come over on holiday.

The Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands, Yaiza Castilla, has asked this Monday from the European Union to establish "as soon as possible" the new tourist measures, which are necessary in order to proceed with the reopening of the subsector.

1. Spain eliminates the two-week quarantine for overseas visitors starting from July 1. Foreign Minister Arancha González says via Twitter that “the hardest part is behind us,” and that “health conditions will be guaranteed” for visitors. Spain also announced that it will reopen for foreign tourism from July.

Pedro Sanchez, the Prime Minister of Spain, has announced on Saturday that Spain will start welcoming foreign tourists starting in July, in conditions of safety for both visitors and locals.

May 21, 2020 - POSITIVE NEWS CANARY ISLANDS 1. All the Canary Islands hope to pass to phase 2 of de-escalation on May 25th. The Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands has sent this Wednesday to the Ministry of Health the reports that would guarantee the passage of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Palma to phase 2 of the de-escalation of the confinement measures starting from next Monday, May 25th.

May 18, 2020 - POSITIVE NEWS CANARY ISLANDS 1. Spain hopes to revive tourism at the end of June. The Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, José Luis Ábalos, has indicated this Monday that he expects tourist activity to reactivate at the end of June if the de-escalation goes "well", so Spain must be made "an attractive country from the health point of view since tourism requires “trust”.

Travelers who come to Spain from abroad must quarantine the 14 days following their arrival, according to an Order of the Ministry of Health published this Tuesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), which will be effective from next Friday, 15 May, and will be in force during the state of alarm and its possible extensions.

The Tourism Minister of the Canary Islands received this Friday the call from the director-general of the World Tourism Organization, Zurab Pololikashvili, to confirm this news which is the result of the collaboration started between both institutions.

Let's also share some positive news, among all this panic and chaos. We will try to find some good news to share from the Canary Islands, from Spain and the entire world, so we can keep up the hope.

Let's also share some positive news, among all this panic and chaos. We will try to find some good news to share from the Canary Islands, from Spain and the entire world, so we can keep up the hope.

Let's also share some positive news, among all this panic and chaos. We will try to find some good news to share from the Canary Islands, from Spain and the entire world, so we can keep up the hope.

The three Canary Islands: La Graciosa, La Gomera and El Hierro will go into phase 1 of easing the restrictions on May 4th. The rest of the islands will have to wait and see how the number of infections evolves.

Let's also share some positive news, among all this panic and chaos. We will try to find some good news to share from the Canary Islands, from Spain and the entire world, so we can keep up the hope.

Let's also share some positive news, among all this panic and chaos. We will try to find some good news to share from the Canary Islands, from Spain and the entire world, so we can keep up the hope.

The full details about the conditions under which children in Spain will be allowed to go out for a walk during the state of alarm have been published. These rules also apply for children and families living in the Canary Islands.

The regional government will present today the plan to complete the quarantine, which will be proposed to President Sánchez on Sunday; it would come into effect on April 27th, with shops opening and allowing the elderly to go out in the morning and the minors in the afternoon.

Let's also share some positive news, among all this panic and chaos. We will try to find some good news to share from the Canary Islands, from Spain and the entire world, so we can keep up the hope.

The President of the Canarian Government, Ángel Víctor Torres, has admitted that the Canary Islands "cannot" endure until the end of 2020 without opening the hotels, pointing out that the possibility of having internal tourism must be brought forward to "recover economic normality", to later give a pass to national tourism and finally to international tourism.

Let's also share some positive news, among all this panic and chaos. We will try to find some good news to share from the Canary Islands, from Spain and the entire world, so we can keep up the hope.

Let's also share some positive news, among all this panic and chaos. We will try to find some good news to share from the Canary Islands, from Spain and the entire world, so we can keep up the hope.

The Canary Islands Air Quality Control and Surveillance Network has announced that there is a significant decrease in NO2 in urban stations in the large cities of the archipelago such as Las Palmas de Gran Canaria or the metropolitan area of ​​Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has said this Thursday that within fifteen days he will probably have to return to Congress to extend the state of alarm because "Spain will not have ended the pandemic."

The Government of the Canary Islands is negotiating with the Ministry of Health the possibility that the archipelago has a different schedule of unconfinement, due to its lower rate of cases and due to its own geographical condition as islands, but also due to the health problems of its population.

The leaders of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations (CEHAT) have held a videoconference meeting with Don Felipe (the kings of Spain) and Doña Letizia. During the discussion, both the president, Jorge Marichal, and the general secretary, Ramón Estalella, have warned of the "negative impact" that the Covid-19 crisis is having on the hotel sector.

The Ministry of Tourism estimates that the return to normality will not start before October and that 10% of hotels may open in July for the domestic market.

According to the current State of Alarm, the restrictions imposed in Spain by the coronavirus emergency should be lifted after April 11, but, nevertheless, the figures of those affected continue to rise every day, so the Executive is thinking of prolonging the confinement of population for another 15 days.

Gran Canaria Tourism Board has announced that the bus ride to the airport for tourists in Gran Canaria during Spain's State of Alarm will be free. This measure has been adopted in order to help tourists ...

The first trailer for the movie Wonder Woman 1984, which was filmed partially in Tenerife and Fuerteventura, is now out after a long wait. Can you recognize the location in the photo above?

This Black Friday (November 29th, 2019), GetYourGuide is offering up to 25% discounts on all tours and activities — including our best-in-class GetYourGuide Original tours.

The restaurants La Aquarela and Los Guayres (from Hotel Cordial Mogán Playa), have both been awarded a Michelin Star each at the 2020 edition for Spain and Portugal.

The airline Binter Canarias has announced the flight schedule for the connection between the Canary Islands and the cities of Boston (USA) and Toronto (Canada). These flights will be operated in code-share with the Portuguese company SATA.