Flight checks expected to affect Italian travellers to the Canaries

The tit-for-tat border controls dispute between Italy and Spain is likely to affect Italian travellers far more than Spanish ones.

The controls are the result of a spat between the Italian and Spanish government following the migration crisis in Ceuta last week. Italy initially introduced controls on arrivals from Spain, saying it was to prevent any of the migrants who had entered Ceuta from travelling on to Italy.

This was despite the fact that Italy has no land border with Spain, and Ceuta is located on the North African coast, with hardly any possibility for irregular migrants to move on to mainland Europe.

Spain angrily demanded that Italy lift the measures, pointing out that Italy had allowed more irregular migrants to enter over the last five years than Spain. However, Italy held firm, citing unconfirmed reports that another mass arrival of migrants is planned for August 15^th.

In response, Spain introduced random controls on arrivals from Italian airports in several Spanish yesterday, with Canarian airports shortly to adopt the measures. These are likely to be random ID checks on an estimated 10% of travellers, and will initially last for just a month.

Lanzarote receives regular direct flights from Turin and Milan’s two airports, and Italy is currently the island’s fifth-largest source of tourists.

Italians have also become an important part of the Canarian community in recent years. They are currently the third-largest foreign resident community on Lanzarote, after residents from Colombia and the United Kingdom.     

Legal migration from Italy to Spain is currently eight times higher than in the opposite direction, and the number of Italians resident in Spain is currently ten times higher than the Spanish population in Italy. The Canaries are one of the main destinations where young Italians, as well as older retired ones, have chosen to relocate in recent years.