REPORTAGE
There were only three round trips to Barcelona airport on Sunday, but after three months when the planes were grounded, it's a good start. For the first time since mid-March and the introduction of containment throughout Europe, Spain has reopened its borders with France and with the other countries of the Schengen area, with the exception of Portugal. A relief for tourism, a key sector of the country's economy (it represents 12% of Spanish GDP, note ).
But the reopening also causes concern in a country marked with hot iron by the coronavirus, which has caused more than 28,000 deaths.
>> LIVE - Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation Sunday June 21
Taking temperature at the airport, wearing a mandatory mask
Because the arrival of tourists from the four corners of the Old Continent raises fears of a resumption of the epidemic. To avoid this, the authorities have put in place an important health protocol to be respected, with strict measures, far from the festive and friendly image that we found last summer. Spain has now entered what it calls "the new normal".
The borders are reopened, but air traffic remains at the lowest at Barcelona airport. 3 round trips only for France today. (Paris and Beauvais only). Last year at the same period, there were about fifteen pic.twitter.com/lzOfv6BvbH
- Henry de Laguérie (@henrydelaguerie) June 21, 2020If a tourist arrives from France or Europe by air, he should meet at the airport one of the approximately 600 agents of the Ministry of Health who are to be deployed. He will then be asked for his place of residence and his temperature will be taken. The suspected cases will be examined by a doctor, Health Minister Salvador Illa announced on Friday.
CORONAVIRUS ESSENTIALS
> Coronavirus in China: should we worry about the new situation?
> Schools, taxes, fight against racism… What you should remember from Emmanuel Macron's speech
> Coronavirus: 5 mistakes not to make with your mask
> Coronavirus: three initiatives that will disrupt our beach habits
> Between empty TGV and TER at a discount, SNCF is preparing for a bad summer
> Can we catch the coronavirus on a plane?
Open restaurants, but reduced capacity
In closed spaces, and outside when you cannot respect a meter and a half of distance, the wearing of the mask is compulsory, under penalty of receiving a fine of one hundred euros. Access to performance halls, swimming pools and hotels remains limited to a percentage of reception capacity which varies by region.
David Perramon is a wine merchant. In his shop, as in so many others in Barcelona, "you can't have more than one customer at the same time," he explains at the microphone of Europe 1. As for the restaurants, they are open, but are forced to reduce their accommodation capacity.
>> Find all of Europe 1's editorial newspapers in replay and podcast here
Beaches and museums open on a case-by-case basis depending on the city
As for beaches, each municipality has established its own by-laws. In the Catalan capital, cameras measure the occupancy rate in real time. When there are too many people, the police evacuate everyone. In Benidorm, it is impossible to spread your towel without having booked in advance. As for historical monuments, again, it all depends on the city.
In Madrid, it is possible to visit the Prado Museum, but the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona will remain closed until 2021. On July 1, like Greece, also a flagship tourist destination in the Mediterranean, Spain will reopen its borders to all nationalities. But the next few weeks promise to be relatively calm for tourists who would come to cross the Pyrenees: it is estimated that there will be half the number of foreign tourists this summer than usual.