The Canary Islands has warned Spain’s central government it must ease entry requirements or lose more UK bookings to rival destinations.

The islands’ Minister of Tourism Yaiza Castilla has joined business associations in warning time is running out to save tourism from the UK.

On Friday, Ms Castilla wrote to Minister of Health Carolina Darias, asking her to take urgent action to ditch the rule that requires British holidaymakers over 12 to be fully vaccinated.  

She warned the restriction is causing serious damage to the islands and UK holidaymakers will opt for Egypt, Turkey or Greece instead, English-language Canarian Weekly National reports.

UK restrictions are being eased later this week, ahead of the half-term holiday, and, in normal years, the Canary Islands would be the number-one European winter destination.

The ruling, that anyone over the age of 12 must be fully vaccinated to enter Spain, has been in place since 1 December.

In December alone, an estimated 100,000 bookings to the Canaries from British tourists were cancelled, the news outlet reports.

Canarian Weekly said: “The situation not only puts the short term at risk, ie the winter season which is already considered lost, but also raises fears in the medium term for Easter, May and June, compared to other European destinations such as Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria or Croatia, which require diagnostic tests to be carried out (antigen test or PCR) but do not prevent entry to the unvaccinated.

“Turkey and Egypt are also going to take tourists from the Canary Islands if it is not resolved very soon.”