Laurence Dollimore
SPAIN has announced that tourism will return to Spain from June 22.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in his press conference today that the ‘great wave’ of COVID-19 is over and that the country is ‘one step away from victory’, but urged people to remain vigilant.
He added that ‘the entry of foreign tourists in safe conditions’ will return in July and that ‘there will be a tourist season this summer.’
The PSOE leader offered his full backing to the vital hospitality sector, saying ‘the time has come’ to open the industry back up.
“We will guarantee the reactivation of national tourism this summer,” he said, “Spain receives more than 80 million visitors each year… and foreign tourists can plan their holidays in our country.”
He urged all tourist establishments to begin the preparations to open for the season and told Spaniards to take advantage of what the country has to offer, noting that ‘many will be able vacation from the end of June onward.’
It comes after Teresa Ribera revealed in an interview with El Periodico today that only areas which have entered and completed Phase 3 of the coronavirus de-escalation plan will be permitted to open their borders to tourists.
The date for such zones to do this, she added, will be as early as June 22.
These areas will have special ‘corridors’ between other Phase 3 areas and most likely with certain European destinations.
However following Sanchez’s comments today, it is believed Spain will initially open solely for domestic tourism before welcoming foreign tourists from July.
Ribera said: “It could be that a citizen of Badajoz can go to spend a few days in Huelva, but perhaps those of Madrid cannot.
“That is what we call ‘safe corridors’, connecting areas with an equivalent level of security and statistical probability of contagion both at the origin and destination.
“In the case of European destinations or arrivals, it is likely that the same scheme will be reproduced.”
It could mean that certain countries will be held back from entering after Cyprus announced it would not be letting Brits in due to the UK’s higher incidence of COVID-19.
