UK holidaymakers will be able to visit some Spanish resorts this summer even if they have only received a single dose of the Covid vaccine.
Travellers who have been given the first jab can apply for the EU's digital green certificate - or vaccine passport - to enter Spain, European Union Justice commissioner Didier Reynders confirmed.
However, the EU commissioner indicated that the digital green certificate, containing a QR code, will show whether the holder has been fully immunised.
The document will initially be launched for entry to the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, and Costa Brava, by the end of June. Leading UK tour operators Tui and Jet2 are said to be backing the plan.
Non-essential foreign travel is still banned for UK citizens until May 17 at the earliest under the Prime Minister's road map to recovery.
The proposed traffic lights system will classify countries as red, amber or green based on the number of infections and vaccine rollout.
Even when the rules are relaxed travellers will be forced to take PCR tests and in some cases self-isolate on return to the UK.
Tourism chiefs in Spain hopes the UK Government will end its insistence on a negative PCR test for holidaymakers once the digital certificate has proved to be reliable.
Spanish tourism minister Fernando Valdes has made it clear that "Spain is desperate to welcome back British tourists” and said he’s optimistic they will return soon.
He also suggested a travel corridor between the two countries, allowing quarantine-free breaks, is firmly on the table but only Covid passports would 'ease' the return of 'safe' travel.
The minister added: "I believe that certificates is going to help us. Since the beginning of the pandemic we have been trying to put in place different means to help safe tourism.
"It is true we have passed through some waves of this pandemic, this virus, but now I think we are ready because we do have vaccinations. We have been having constant conversations with UK authorities, these certificates are going to ease travel and help tourism from this summer on."
