Illegal immigrants testing positive, 305 kilo tuna,260 people in a bar, Ryanair....here we go again...read on, it's been a busy week!
Image 1: The sun rising over the Mar Menor courtesy of Los Alcázares tourism
At the end of this week there's a distinct feeling that things are getting better, as the region heads into phase 2 which will bring greater freedom and improve the quality of life for all of us who have gone through 70 days of strict lockdown, the weather is warming up and summer is heading our way.
But there are several issues bubbling under the surface, the most pressing of which is the tourist season and this week we've dedicated a special report to this topic as the contradictory articles in the British and Spanish media are enough to make anyone's head spin!!!
So, to begin; The daily figures
Spain
A week ago on Friday 15th May the Spanish Health Ministry reported a total of 230,183 cases. A week later the figure is 234,824 cases (confirmed by PCR testing), so a rise of new 4,641 cases this week, compared to 7,326 new cases the previous week, and 7,641 the week before, a noticeable fall in the number of new cases but still an increase which the health authority is disappointed to see.
The fatalities now number 28,628 as opposed to 27,459 last week and 26,299 the week before ( a rise of 1169 this week as opposed to 1160 last week, the 1475 of the previous week and the 2300 of the week before that). On Friday the fatalities numbered just 56 people and from Sunday onwards have been consistently below 100 a day. Three times this week the number of cases have been the lowest fatalities total since the 16th March when 22 fatalities were listed and on 5 days the total has remained below 100.
This week the Ministry has stopped detailing the number of "recovered cases" at a national level, making it difficult to clarify exactly how many active cases there still are in the country.
The graph shows the current situation in the 17 autonomous comunities of Spain, the new cases all grouped into Cataluña, Madrid, Castilla y León, Castilla La Mancha and the Basque Country. Elsewhere the figures are all relatively low. It has been highlighted this week that the figures are not accurate in relation to the Catalunya Region and do not accurately reflect the data reported, so the figures are actually higher than shown officially(!) but there's nothing new there.
Region of Murcia
Murcia remains at the bottom of the league table for mainland Spain with the lowest number of confirmed cases and the lowest number of deaths but has lost its crowns for the lowest percentage increase in the number of cases and the lowest number of cases per head of population due to the localised outbreak in Totana last Friday. This was so serious that the six infected agricultural workers were hospitalised and
45 close contacts put on a bus and taken to the CAR sports centre in Lorca for an enforced 2 week quarantine. This one incident was enough to distort the figures for the region and as a result Totana has not been allowed to join the remainder of the region and pass into phase 2 on Monday 25th. The figures for Murcia however, remain low, compared to the rest of the country.
Number of fatalities: 149; 7 new deaths this week,
Number of active cases: 172, a large fall from last week when there were 297 active cases
Murcia has 30 patients hospitalised, with 6 in intensive care (half the level of last week).
Only sixteen municipalities of the 45 in the Murcia Region have registered new cases in the last 2 weeks, and none of these are on the coast:
Alcantarilla 2
Alhama de Murcia 1
Calasparra 2
Campos del Río 1
Caravaca de la Cruz 2
Cartagena 4
Cieza 6
Fortuna 1
Jumilla 5
Lorca 7
Murcia 13
Santomera 1
Torre de Cotillas 1
Totana 8
La Unión 1
Yecla 4
The remaining municipalities have no new cases.
One interesting little set of stats published this week is the average age of patients in the region: the average age is 52, and only 2.2% of cases are in those aged 15 and less.
65% of fatalities in the region as of Wednesday this week,were aged over 80.
De-escalation
On Friday afternoon it was confirmed that the Region of Murcia had been granted permission to move into phase 2 of the de-escalation plan and would do so at midnight on Sunday. Final details of the changes this implies will be posted after the BOE is published on Saturday. In brief, shopping centres can re-open, bars and restaurants can open part of their internal areas, the freedom to exercise and practice sport is extended anywhere in the region from 6am to 11pm, cinemas, cultural venues, museums etc can re-open, all of which will make the remaining time spent within the de-escalation phases considerably more relaxed.
Provinces moving into Phase 1
Castilla y León: Ávila, Segovia, Soria, Burgos, Palencia, León, Zamora, Salamanca and Valladolid.
Cataluña: health areas of the city of Barcelona, Metropolitana Sud and Metropolitana Nord.
Madrid (during the week the Madrid government was so incensed at the refusal of the national Government to move it into phase 1 that it began proceedings to take the Government to court!)
Provinces moving into Phase 2
Andalucía: Almería, Córdoba, Cádiz, Huelva, Jaén and Sevilla.
Aragón: Huesca, Zaragoza and Teruel.
▪️Asturias
▪️Balearic Islands: Ibiza, Menorca and Mallorca.
▪️Canary Islands: Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Palma.
▪️Cantabria
▪️Castilla-La Mancha: Guadalajara and Cuenca.
▪️Cataluña: health areas of Campo de Tarragona, Alto Pirineo y Arán and Las Tierras del Ebro.
▪️Extremadura: Cáceres and Badajoz.
▪️Galicia: Lugo, La Coruña, Orense and Pontevedra.
▪️Region of Murcia
▪️Navarra
▪️País Vasco: Guipúzcoa,Vizcaya and Álava.
▪️La Rioja
▪️Ceuta.
▪️Melilla
The three provinces of the Comunidad Valenciana including Alicante province, remain in Phase 1.
This relaxation in the confinement levels is very welcome as it allows greater freedom of movement for residents. However, it does NOT permit movement between provinces. This is not scheduled to take place until 22nd June, and will depend entirely on the evolution of the virus.
It's almost irrelevant now as from Monday all of the Region will be able to exercise and walk between 6am and 11pm, but Cartagena coastal residents and those in outlying districts can do so now following a relaxation of the rules by the council on Thursday. This includes areas such as La Azohía, Los Belones, Mar de Cristal so means that windsurfers will be able to once again take to the water during hours when there is actually some wind this weekend! At last; a frustrated husband out of my hair and back on the water... thank goodness for that!
Earlier in the week the exercise period had also been extended to 6am to 11pm for municipalities of 5-10,000 inhabitants. Click to read
State of emergency in Spain extended to midnight on 7th June:
The fifth extension was only achieved through a complicated series of pacts which has caused considerable political friction. whether the PM will manage to get yet another extension to the end of June will be interesting to observe as he's upset a lot of politicians during the negotiations to achieve this latest extension. Click to
read the full article
Wearing of masks in public places became obligatory in Spain this week.
Earlier in the week there was significant speculation and lots of comment about what the rules would actually be, but these were clarified mid week and the order came into force on Thursday. As residents will probably be aware by now what the rules are, and as posters were shared ad infinitum on social media, there's no need to go into any further detail.
Click here if you're not sure what the rules are or want further information about this topic.
Sales will be allowed to go ahead in Spain even in phase zero areas
Last week there was considerable confusion over whether sales were allowed or not.
After a week of uncertainty the government finally decided to allow retailers to hold sales of seasonal stock, regardless of the size of their premises and in which phase of the de-escalation process their premises are located. So out with the purses and hunt down some bargains.Click
for the article
Humans can transmit Covid-19 to cats, but not the other way around says Spanish Ministry. The latest Covid-19 scientific-technical report published by the Ministry of Health has examined the methods by which Covid-19 can be transmitted and concludes that although humans can transmit Covid-19 to cats, observations so far indicate that it cannot be transmitted from cats to humans. That's a relief!!!! The cat can resume her rightful place on the bed. Click to
read the full report
Boatloads of illegal migrants arrive with 2 Covid positives on board; one man esapes from police station and runs off into Cartagena
The spring is traditionally a time of year when boatloads of illegal immigrants coming from the African coastal areas attempt to enter Spain by sea. Between the beginning of January and 12th March a total of 43 boats carrying 542 immigrants had been intercepted by coast guards, but the outbreak of Covid and strict controls on the Moroccan borders had helped to prevent any further migration attempts until this week, when lured by the gradually lowering Covid figures, five boats containing a total of 62 migrants managed to reach Murcian waters.
All of those intercepted were tested for Covid-19 and two of those who had been picked up in Cabo Tiñoso gave positive results using the rapid antibody test kits. Later on in the day a PCR test confirmed that they were no longer contagious.The eight police and rescue officers who had contact with them during the rescue were obliged to enter a 14- day quarantine period.
After being given medical attention the immigrants were taken to the comisaría of the Policía Nacional in calle Menéndez y Pelayo in Cartagena as a temporary measure while transport and accommodation was organised, and during this period one of the men managed to escape, climbing over the exterior wall of the building. The Mayoress of Cartagena immediately put out a press release calling for more resource to protect those involved in the rescue missions, as well as protect the coastline, being rapidly joined by other mayors as this is a scenario which has long been feared by those in areas in which these boats habitually land, but was then accused by the Government Delegate to the Region of Murcia of "creating social alarm". She was not amused. Click f
or the full articleThis week the Mayoress of Cartagena has certainly been on the warpath and with good reason: Cartagena closes down bar in which 260 people were ignoring distancing orders. She warned them, disobey the order and I'll close you down, so when 260 idiots packed into a bar the police moved in and did precisely that. There was a lot of anger about this story, people who have been stringently obeying the law to do their bit in reducing the spread of the virus exasperated by the selfishness of others. Click for the full story
Mar Menor
This week the Covid crisis caused delays for the Magistrate examining the Topillo case in which more than 100 agricultural firms are being investigated for allegedly illegally extracting and desalinating subterranean water and using it to irrigate fields around the Mar Menor.This week the Court of Instruction number 2 in Murcia was forced to temporarily suspend its investigations because there simply isn´t sufficient space available to house all of the lawyers who have responded to a request asking for confirmation of their intended attendance at the 20 odd hearings scheduled for this week and next and be able to respect the social distancing regulations implied by the state of emergency! The magistrate will re-schedule for a later phase in the de-escalation process in the eventuality that a larger room is not found for the remaining hearings next week!
Major Mar Menor drugs ring busted in san Javier and san Pedro del Pinatar:Those arrested will also be fined for breaching the lockdown and selling drugs during a state of emergency. Click to read the full article
The Civil Guard of the Region of Murcia has successfully concluded Operation 'Lodon', an investigation into drug trafficking in the Mar Menor area, which has resulted in 14 arrests for allegedly cultivating, processing and trafficking drugs, stealing electricity, illegal occupation of dwellings, serious civil disobedience, and membership of a criminal organization. Four of the arrested have been immediately imprisoned.
Residents of Los Urrutias want clean beaches, not bathing jetties.
Residents of the Los Urrutias area of Cartagena are less than happy about the announcement last week that the project to install five bathing platforms in Los Urrutias, Punta Brava and Estrella del Mar has completed the bureaucratic processes and environmental impact studies initiated in 2017 within the region and has now been submitted for rubber stamping to the national coastal department .The association has put out a press release calling the statement about the bathing jetties a "political manoeuvre" and a "hoax" that will not bring "any benefit" to residents and neighbours as long as there is no "quality" bathing to be enjoyed in Los Urrutias.Residents, it seems, would prefer sand on their beaches and clean water to bathing jetties designed to bypass the mud, silt and debris and take bathers out to clearer waters 100 metres from the shoreline.Click to read the article
CHS begins to pump water out of the Rambla del Albujón and away from the Mar Menor.In the first week the equivalent of 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools was prevented from reaching the Mar Menor. It has been calculated that the Rambla del Albujón, which flows down into the Mar Menor discharges more than five million cubic meters of water per year into the lagoon and the CHS, which has responsibility for the infrastructure, has been under considerable pressure to reduce this flow of nitrate laden water, which is a significant contributing factor to the problems of eutrophication experienced by the lagoon three years ago and which now threatens to return in some measure during the forthcoming summer following the significant floods of the last few months.
Last week the CHS re-activated the Albujón pumping plant in what it calls a “testing phase”, removing water from the rambla and re-distributing it back to the farmers forming part of the authorised network of irrigators, mixed with water received from the Tajo-Segura Trasvase and water generated from the legal desalination plants. Click to
read the full article. This incorporates some of the Mar Menor special published last week, some of the water being used by the agriculturalists the subject of the court case above, and the whole topic entwined with the Gota Fría of last September which is the subject of the article below.
CHS starts repair works on Santomera dam. Although not close to the Mar Menor, this infrastructure played an important ròle in the terrible Gota Fría which hit the region in September last year, during which the Mar Menor itself suffered extensive flooding and damage. So enormous were the volumes of water and debris which cascaded down into the River Segura that the river reached road level as it passed through the centre of Murcia city (do you remember those images of the CHS frantically pulling out canes and debris as the water hit the metalwork on the bridge across the river?).
Major water infrastructures were totally overwhelmed, amongst them the Santomera dam and reservoir which went from 7 per cent of its capacity to almost full in under 48 hours.
As the huerta areas of Murcia city disappeared under a knee-high layer of water, the river Segura burst its banks and residents were evacuated and it became increasingly obvious that the water had reached dangerously high levels with a genuine risk that water could overflow from the structure.
Should the wall of the dam collapse, the results could have been catastrophic, flooding the city itself, so the decision was finally taken to release the water inside the dam out into the water control infrastructure run by the CHS.
The gates were opened for the first time ever, and 26 hm3 of water poured out from the reservoir, damaging the infrastructure.
Since the Gota Fria, the CHS has been undertaking major repair works right throughout its network and work has now begun to repair the dam. Click this link to see a video of the dam being opened and see a link to a full summary of the terrible events of last September from which the region is still recovering.
Other stories:
Temperatures in the 30s across the Murcia Region this weekend:All areas of the region can expect warm, stable weather for the next few days and a good week ahead. Click
for full article
305 kilo wild tuna caught in the La Azohía Almadraba on the Cartagena coastline.Tuna are voracious predators and follow the migratory shoals of other species along our Mediterranean coastline in the spring. Almadraba nets are laid between February and June on the Cartagena coast, a system first used by the Phoenicians 3,000 years ago, then exploited by the Romans who built factories to process fish caught off this coastline and make pungent garum fish sauces which they exported to feed discerning Romans throughout their mighty Empire ( a good example of which can be seen in nearby Puerto de Mazarrón where there is a well-preserved Roman salt fish factory), a system continued by the Moors who occupied the region until the 13th century and then maintained by local fishermen, Almadraba nets still a part of the scenery along this coastline during the late winter and early spring months. Click to
read this full story
Double whammy fines: Illegal octopus fisherman also fined for breaching lockdown; The “furtive fisherman” was caught in Cartagena and his haul of 20 kilos of freshly speared octopus handed over to a local charity helping the poor after his car was ambushed by a police patrol near to the El Gorguel beach. The alleged poacher will be charged with four infractions of the regulations governing fishing - for fishing without the required license, for exceeding the number of octopus catches allowed, for fishing octopus during the closed season and for practicing diving without a safety buoy– as well as an additional fine under the Citizen Security Protection Law, for breaching the confinement established in the current state of alarm.Click to read the full article
Firemen called to cut cat out of a water pipe:The mewling feline had somehow become wedged in the pipe. There’s always one…….Click
to see the pictures
BIg fire at electronic and electrical equipment waste plant alongside the Cañada Hermosa landfill site, located between Mula and Alcantarilla on Thursday lunchtime. Click
for pictures
Murcia Cathedral cordoned off again as more loose masonry falls off the facade of the Baroque Cathedral. Click
to read
Sale of menthol cigarettes banned in Spain from Wednesday:The manufacture, distribution and sale of this type of cigarette is banned in Spain and throughout Europe.The Ministry of Health has issued a reminder that as of this Wednesday the manufacture, distribution and sale of commercial brands of tobacco containing menthol is prohibited in not only Spain but throughout the EU. Click to
read the full article
Tourism:
Ryanair cancels dozens of July flights.....here we go again say passengers.
When the airline originally announced that it would be resuming flights from the beginning of July passengers flooded social media groups with questions about whether fellow expats believed that the airline would be allowed to fly into Spain from the 1st July, many potential holidaymakers concerned that should they book, their flights would be cancelled and they would find themselves caught in the endless “voucher-loop” which has become the norm since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many respondees warned potential travellers about the rapidly changing situation here in Spain and the seemingly endless extensions to the state of emergency which have left the country in lockdown for more than 2 months and with a travel ban on international arrivals until June 15th.
Others were convinced that the airline was doing little more than boosting its cash reserves by selling flights it had no intention of operating and would cancel nearer to the flight date, so this week there were a good deal of “told you so” messages being posted in response to the anguished “my flight has been cancelled “ posts which erupted onto social media on Wednesday afternoon.Click for the whole article
Two articles collide here. 13 Spanish airports can receive international flights but NOT tourists.
The Ministry of Transport issued an order at the weekend limiting the entry points by air to just five airports, which was amended three times before it even came into force and finally included 13 airports (not Corvera by the way!). The idea behind the designation of specific airports as entry points to Spain is NOT to facilitate tourism, but to “minimize the risks of importing cases of Covid-19 which could jeopardise the de-escalation process” by limiting the number of entry points.Unfortunately some social media users mis-interpreted the news as meaning that tourists are once again able to fly to Spain as they now believe that “Alicante is open again…….”.
This is NOT correct. NO TOURISTS ARE PERMITTED TO FLY TO SPAIN AT THE MOMENT. The airports are only open for re-patriation flights and indeed most airports have no flights at all coming in as so few airlines are flying to Spain. This week for example, Valencia had just one flight scheduled and Alicante had none. ALL passengers landing at these airports are obliged to self-quarantine for 14 days, but this does NOT mean tourists can come in and self-quarantine. ONLY those with Spanish residency are permitted to enter the country and return to their habitual place of residence. Property owners who do NOT have residency are not permitted to enter the country until after the 15th June. It is highly likely that this date will be extended as the current date for the end of the de-escalation process is provisionally set for the 22nd June, although again, this may continue into July.
So what happened.....not only British tourists got the wrong idea, but also those from other countries, so as a result:
Three German tourists sent back home after flying to Palma de Mallorca.The two men and one woman were put back on an outward flight after being refused entry into Spain. Click
for this article. In fact, 5 Germans arrived within hours of each other and were sent back to Germany. Media coverage of their rapid round-trip seems to have helped the message to get through!
Which leads nicely into this week's special report, as confusion about what Spain's tourism plans are for this summer are not only attracting a great deal of international media interest, it's an obsessional topic for the Spanish media as well, so far-reaching are the implications of this important decision which nobody, it seems, wants to actually make!!!
So when will Spain open for summer tourists???????
Special report: Spain under intense pressure to re-open for tourists this summer
Mixed messages are generating uncertainty, confusion and frustration as at the moment no clear plans have been presented or dates given
The number of Covid-19 cases worldwide passed five million people yesterday (5,027,732 according to the latest official count ) and has killed at least 328,730 people so far, yet the fear of contagion seems to diminish day by day and the population is becoming de-sensitised to not only the consequences of the pandemic but also their own personal risk.
The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to warn that there is "still a long way to go in this pandemic", and in spite of multiple projects reporting progress in the race to find a vaccine, there is no guarantee that anyone is safe.
Top U.S. scientist and ground-breaking cancer, HIV/AIDS and human genome projects researcher William Haseltine said this week that while a vaccine could be developed, “I wouldn’t count on it”; “do not listen to the politicians who say we’re going to have one by the time (my) re- election comes around,” he said. “Maybe we will (but) I’m just saying it’s not a slam-dunk case by any means ... because every time people have tried to make a vaccine – for Sars or Mers – it hasn’t actually protected.”
But let’s face it, we’re all really bored by this virus thing now, we’ve had enough of clapping, being patient, being responsible, listening to TV presenters presenting, scientists analysing, politicians pontificating….making sculptures out of toilet roll holders and cooking….absolutely had enough of cooking….the sun’s coming out, we want a holiday!
We know that we should stay at home, we know that we could catch the virus, give it to somebody else, but hey…..look at that sun out there….I haven´t caught it so far…… a little treat won´t hurt ……..
Images of the public flocking to beaches and bars have drawn condemnation worldwide this week; three towns in Brittany in France shut their beaches on Wednesday because of the "unacceptable" failure of people to observe social-distancing rules, the council of Southend in the UK faces fierce criticism as thousands packed the beaches enjoying 25 degree temperatures although the council could easily have put up barriers and told the carloads to turn around and go home and earlier this week Barcelona council was criticised for allowing the public to use its beaches unchecked, failing to observe social distancing when still unable to even pass into phase one of the de-escalation process in Spain.
Why? Because all local and national authorities are feeling the pressure from businesses desperate to get back to work, from economic advisers warning of impending world recession, massive job losses, economic disaster on an unprecedented scale………. we want to go back to work even though we know we are putting ourselves and our families at risk.
The authorities also know they can´t keep us penned in forever waiting for a vaccine; we have to be allowed to go out again, businesses be allowed to get back to work and society allowed to adapt to the “new normal” or they will have to deal with widespread mental health issues, public unrest, long-lasting economic problems and profound social disorder.
Tourist authorities in Europe are facing increasing pressure to open- up their borders and allow visitors from abroad to pile into their countries en-masse, even though the Covid virus continues to spread, contaminate and kill.
In years to come documentaries will report on this first world pandemic.
Earnest presenters will show footage of thousands of sunseekers jammed onto beaches followed by images of people dying in intensive care units because we were all so desperate to go abroad for a holiday that we forgot how dangerous this virus was and tens of thousands died in a second autumn wave (probably….)
We’ll sit there shaking our heads, wondering at the insanity and questioning who allowed this to happen……..
We know we shouldn´t but hey….the sun’s shining.
But it’s happening now as Europe attempts to recover some of the billions of euros spent here by tourists; Europe accounts for 50% of the global tourism market and tourism is a crucial sector supporting a pyramid of ancillary businesses who all benefit from the money it generates.
At the moment the EU has recommendations in place to all its member nations that they restrict all non-essential visitors from outside of their borders, as is the case in Spain and currently this ban is in place here until June 15th.
But some member nations are keen to be off out of the starting blocks and have announced that they will be opening for business earlier:
Italy: With 32,330 deaths and 227,364 cases, Italy is about to open its doors to tourists again, in a "calculated risk" to support its ailing tourism sector. "We're facing a calculated risk in the knowledge that the contagion curve may rise again," prime minister Giuseppe Conte said in a televised address to the nation on Saturday. "We have to accept it, otherwise we will never be able to start up again” he said, as justification for the decision to allow tourists to enter the country without having to go into quarantine from June 3rd.
Greece: Greece is also set to launch its tourism comeback. City hotels are scheduled to re-open on June 1st followed by seasonal hotels a month later, banking on less tourists, but more affluent ones to re-energize a sector which employs one in five Greeks. With less than 3,000 cases and only 166 deaths, the early lock-down and geographical spread across its many islands have helped to give the country a head start on many of its European neighbours, making it a feisty competitor for Spain.
The EU is keen to see Europe re-open
On Wednesday, European Union tourism ministers agreed “to do whatever it takes for the quick and full recovery of European tourism", broadly backing an EU plan which proposes lifting restrictions between member states of "sufficiently similar epidemiological situations," in other words, the same rate of coronavirus infection.
EU member states have discussed the creation of "green corridors" or "travel bubbles" allowing countries with low or sharply declining infection rates to open up either fully or partially to nationals from other countries which represent a lower risk profile until borders are fully re-opened.
The EU's plan also focuses on developing “safe and healthy tourism” with health and safety guidelines for beaches, hotels, campsites, B&Bs, cafes and restaurants, aiming to dually protect not only guests, but also employees through simple and practical measures such as booking swimming pools in advance, stringent social distancing measures, creating low density leisure facilities and restaurants and limiting the use of public areas such as beaches; in some areas councils have already imposed proposed volume limits on their beaches and will allocate entry to their beach on a "first come, first served" ticket basis. Others are proposing to partition their beaches off into zones so that bathers can enjoy social distancing.
Margrethe Vestager, vice-president of the European Commission said this week that "this is not going to be a normal summer, not for any of us. But when we all work together and we all do our part in the ways the Commission is setting out, then we don't have to face a summer stuck at home or a completely lost summer for the European tourism industry."
So what is Spain going to do?
In 2019 Spain welcomed 83.7 million foreign tourists who spent a staggering 92,278 million euros (that’s 92 billion). Exceltur believes that 80% of this amount is already lost for this year and the April air traffic figures give a clear indicator of just how serious this crisis is for Spain’s tourist sector: 99.97% of low cost air traffic literally disappeared during April and this week there is still no clear indication of when flights to Spain can and will resume. Low cost operator Ryanair announced that it would be flying to Spain from 1st July, but already this week thousands of passengers have received messages advising them that their early July flights have been cancelled.
Last year more than 18 million British travellers chose Spain, and tourism accounts for 12.3 per cent GDP, an estimated 12.7 per cent of all Spanish jobs servicing this important sector, yet the message coming from the top is confused, indecisive and conflicting for anyone looking to book a Spanish summer holiday.
Spain’s top tourism officials seem to have been on an international media charm offensive recently, yet there are no firm indications at the moment of either how, or when, Spain will be able to re-open to tourism visitors, and no mechanisms are in place to enable the hundreds of thousands employed in the sector can make practical preparations for the impending start of summer.
This week temperatures have already soared into the thirties and the tourist sector is pushing for answers from the government about when it will be able to open, and exactly what the restrictions will be.
Is the country going to limit itself to “safe holiday staycations” only for Spanish residents and if so, when will they be allowed to travel, or is it going to allow in foreign tourists, and if so, which nationalities and when?
But herein lies the problem.
Our politicians are busy talking the talk, giving foreign journalists the soothing words of assurance that they want to hear, but they’re not walking the walk…..in fact, they can´t seem to even agree on what their message is.
Arancha Gonzalez Laya, a Spanish lawyer, former assistant secretary-general of the United Nations and now Spanish foreign minister, told The Independent newspaper; “This year will be tough because we will not be able to welcome tourists as we have in previous years because of health and safety, not only of tourists but also of Spaniards,” she said in an exclusive interview with the paper, who interpreted her words as “the chances British holidaymakers could return to the Costas this year are slim.”
The Guardian quoted transport minister, José Luis Ábalos, who they reported as saying “the country would end two-week quarantine restrictions at the end of June, and would fully reopen its borders. The move would take place at the same time internal travel restrictions were phased out.
“From late June, we’ll start the tourism activity, I hope,” Ábalos said. “We must make Spain an attractive country from the health point of view.”
El País put out their own version of events quoting Reyes Maroto, tourism minister; "We have to guarantee, when international tourism opens, that the person who comes to Spain is a safe person" .
"The issue of borders will be accompanied by the evolution of the health crisis," he said.
"Therefore, I do not have the solution of when [they will be able to open]. On how you will be able to enjoy our beaches, we are defining different scenarios."
The paper also quoted an “un-named cabinet member” as saying, “It does not make sense to make the gamble for just a few more weeks. We have our de-escalation plan and we are going to maintain it [...] There will not be any movement between the provinces until all of them pass all the phases [...] No one would understand why a Spaniard is unable to visit their mother in Galicia while a German national can go to their house in Mallorca. That is not going to happen.”
They also report that the Prime Minister himself refuses to be pushed on when the de-escalation process will conclude, “We are all under pressure. We are here to resist it. The absolute priority is lowering the level of contagion” he is quoted as having said.
Teresa Ribera, meanwhile, fourth vice president of the Government and charged with overseeing the de-escalation said to the EFE Agency in an interview for the Spanish media, ”we have to be looking more to the month of July than the month of June” to a date for the opening of European frontiers.
She went on to talk about the “irresponsibility of a premature opening of the borders which could put the Spanish population at risk, "We have to be very careful to make sure the person who comes is not at risk and that they arrive at a safe destination, and at the same time they do not pose a risk to the local population," she said.
Her stance is that the Government is examining a "safe origins and destinations" model "the extraordinary data from the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands or Andalusia give us security now, when there is no mobility between provinces, when people who could potentially be infected do not come. If we open- up on a massive scale we could be acting irresponsibly, "she warned, recalling that the outbreaks in China, South Korea and Singapore" were associated with the importation of cases from abroad.”
So here we have widely different messages,” we don´t think tourists will be able to come this year”; “we’re opening in June…..I hope”; “I don´t know when we’ll open……”; “we’re not in a hurry, a few more weeks won´t matter”; “don´t push me” and “we’re looking at July not June, but we’re not sure if we want to open at all…..”.
All of which isn´t a fat lot of help to the beleagured tourist sector which would like to know whether businesses should bother opening their hotels, beach bars and activity centres at all, whether they should lay on music nights, contract staff, order food, spend the money to fit plastic screens and rope off the pool area …..representatives of the sector are understandably frustrated that the slow pace of de-escalation in Spain is making it impossible for the authorities to give a clear date or announce a firm strategy, which in turn prevents their own members from making firm plans.
Or a fat lot of help to foreign tourists sitting at home in lockdown and trawling the internet for possible flights and holiday options, seeing Greece and Italy opening for business with firm dates and venues waiting for them to click that finger, make a booking and set the tills ringing.
So realistically, where are we now:
- De-escalation: On Monday Madrid will finally move into phase 1 of de-escalation, two weeks behind the majority of the country, some of which will move into phase two. The de-escalation is unequal throughout the country, some areas (the Balearic and Canary Islands) are three weeks ahead of other regions. Although in theory the key date quoted by the Government is 22nd June, the PM has reiterated this week that the country will “de-escalate together”, which, should all areas complete the required four phase de-escalation together, could mean that the “new normal” won´t begin until some time in early July. Until it does, NOBODY, even Spanish nationals, is allowed to travel between provinces.
- 14 day quarantine. At the moment the quarantine will expire on 15th June.
- Spain’s borders are closed to non-essential international travellers (that means tourist basically; if you don´t live here, you can´t come in unless you’re engaged in diplomatic or medical work, are in transit or are transporting goods until 15th June.
- The country is in a state of emergency until 7th June. The PM would like to extend that but given the political spaghetti generated by the manoeuvrings to secure the latest extension this week, whether it will actually happen is becoming increasingly uncertain.
- Tourists attempting to currently enter Spain are being turned back at the border; this week 3 Germans were put on a plane and sent home without being allowed to enter for not having a valid reason to be here.
- Flights available to book are few and far between in July, and most of the airlines electing to fly are selecting the Canary and Balearic islands as their chosen destination as cases are lower and there is a greater chance of the islands being open for business than the mainland.
- It is possible that some countries will be excluded from mainland Europe; the UK is currently a hot candidate for this with 248,293 cases, 35,704 deaths and both new cases and fatalities rates that far exceed those of the European tourist destinations they are likely to want to visit.
- Spain’s own new case rate is decelerating, the number of deaths is diminishing, but there are still new cases on a daily basis and the Health Ministry spokesman warns every day that complacency kills and observing the lock-down is vital to bring the virus under control. Cases haven´t risen significantly since the de-escalation began and the Ministry has increased testing, establishing that around 5% of the population of Spain has been exposed to the virus. The fatalities rate has been consistently under 100 a day for nearly a week. On Friday, large swathes of the country was permitted to move forward in the de-escalation process.
So sorry, if after reading all of this, you're still none the wiser than the rest of us. Join the club. It's the same for everyone working in the tourist sector and wanting to visit Spain this summer. We have no idea what is going on.
Have a good week and thank you for your support.
Spanish News Today
Alicante Today
Andalucia Today
