* Urges system of reciprocal testing instead
* Some Spanish regions have lower infection rate than UK
Spain's hard-hit hotels offered on Monday to pay for foreign tourists to take coronavirus tests, in an effort to lure back visitors worried by a fresh wave of cases and put off by Britain's sudden imposition of a two-week quarantine.
Britain on Saturday shocked hoteliers and holidaymakers with an unexpected 14-day quarantine on people returning from Spain, in a major blow to a tourist season already hanging on by a thread.
"Not only is it unjust but it's also totally illogical and lacking in rigour," Spain's main hotel association CEHAT said of the quarantine.
Instead, the association proposed a system of reciprocal testing across Europe that would provide greater safety for travellers, workers and people who live in tourist destinations.
"We are prepared to bear this cost," CEHAT's president Jorge Marichal said in a video posted on social media.
Since ending its nationwide lockdown a month ago, Spain has been grappling with a rapid proliferation of new cases, with daily infections approaching 1,000 by the end of last week.
However, with most new clusters concentrated in the northeastern regions of Catalonia and Aragon, and with several other regions having a lower infection ratio than Britain, the blanket quarantine has been criticised as disproportionate.
"Are there not smarter, technological ways to face this situation in a more focused way?" said Emilio Gallego, of Spain's Hospitality Industry Association, which represents the country's bars and restaurants.
Britain's The Sun newspaper said London was considering an exemption for Spain's Balearic and Canary islands, where infection rates are very low, after lobbying by the Madrid government.
"We hope it will be today rather than tomorrow," Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto said.
While Catalan leader Quim Torra warned that more restrictions could be needed if the local outbreak continued to expand, other regions such as Andalusia and Valencia felt unfairly penalised.
"Our epidemiological data are better than the UK's," Valencian regional leader Ximo Puig told Cadena Ser radio. "I don't understand why you would make a decision like this with such a broad brushstroke."
Puig's counterpart in the Canary Islands, Angel Victor Torres, said the shock to the local tourism sector could be irreversible if Britons stopped coming.
Tour operators, airlines and hotel groups, already struggling after the pandemic brought global air travel to a virtual standstill, also hit back at the measure.
Budget carrier Ryanair's Chief Executive Michael O'Leary derided the UK move as a "badly managed overreaction".
Melia Hotels and NH hotels shares dropped 5.2% and 3.5% respectively on Monday afternoon, while British Airways parent company IAG was down 7%.