Staff Reporter
CASTELLON tourism sector is very optimistic about the future – so much so that the experts believe the situation will be back to normal in four months’ time.
Speaking at a conference organised by regional hospitality union Hosbec in Benidorm yesterday (Monday March 15), high-ranking representatives of Castellon delegation Ashotur set July ‘at the latest and in the worse-case scenario’ as the starting point back to normality.
The meeting was held to commemorate the first year of the COVID pandemic and to highlight the problems faced by companies related to the tourist trade.
Ashotur president Luis Marti revealed that losses in Castellon Province alone have climbed above the €2 billion mark over the last year.
Inland travel in particular has been badly hit, with spokespeople for the provincial union highlighting the ‘huge suffering’ of families who run lodgings, as well as the primary sector – farming and agriculture – that has seen profits plummet due to the closure of the hospitality trade.
Criticism was also directed at the European Union for its ‘inefficient’ management of the vaccination campaign, which Ashotur blames for the delays in getting back to normal.
However, Marti pointed out that there has not yet been a surge in business closures in Castellon, while regional Tourism secretary Francesc Colomer insisted that the vaccine ‘is the best policy’ to enable the ailing sector to look forward to a bright future.
All eyes are now on the summer, which everyone hopes will be very different to last year, when the coronavirus led to an almost total absence of international visitors to Spain.
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