For a sector that is on the canvas, the blow dealt today in the BOE with the requirement of a 14-day quarantine for foreigners who come to Spain during the State of Alarm causes stupor and resignation.

However, the tourism sector relies more on Brussels and the transport revival plan that the European Commission may present tomorrow than on the impact on tourism of this measure announced yesterday by surprise by the Pedro Sánchez government.

"We are in the tourist zero, the sector is closed, so it does not produce new effects for us," summarized today the president of the Federation of Entrepreneurs of Hospitality and Tourism of Las Palmas, José María Mañaricua, who believes that the measure is intended for labor movements and repatriations.

"It is inopportune but what is important is what Brussels says, which may set an imminent activation of air corridors in Europe," explains Francisco Mulet, president of the Balearic Travel Agency Association, one of the economic groups most affected by the crisis. of the coronavirus.

Hoteliers

For Jorge Marichal, who presides over the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations, the news "may seem contradictory" but "it is understandable as it is paired with a State of Alarm" . It is normal, he adds, that people taking an airplane have to adopt the same security measures as residents. He hopes that the situation will change when international conventions are established.

Hotel chains have great hopes of opening their businesses on July 1, with partial openings on June 15. It is an optimistic and hypothetical scenario, impossible if Europe does not reopen air traffic. In the Balearic Islands, hoteliers are demanding that the application of tests be extended to tourists with a maximum of two days before traveling and have offered to pay tests to all their employees.

The measure falls like another jug ​​of cold water among the regions most dependent on tourism. Some businessmen, such as the spokesman for the nautical rental companies José María Jiménez, describe it as the "final grave" of the tourist campaign this summer: "The nautical charter is over, so there is nothing to do," he told the newspaper today. specialized digital medium Gaceta Náutica.

The sector found out through the BOE and not through the channels of dialogue established with the autonomous governments, where there is intense work to try to reactivate this important economic engine without colliding with health requirements. In fact, sources in the hospitality sector in the Balearic Islands indicate that not even the Balearic Government - of the same political color as the Government, of the PSOE - knew of this measure.

From the Balearic Government they call for calm and prudence, noting that this measure is linked only to the period of duration of the State of Alarm, a phase in which the borders are closed and no flights or maritime traffic arrive from abroad, so that the extra 14-day confinement for travelers has no added impact since no foreigners are arriving. "What would be disastrous is for it to go further," Mulet warns.

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  • Balearics
  • Europe
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