• Health: Catalonia prepares quarantine centers to isolate tourists with Covid symptoms

Despite the fact that the full impact on the economy of the health crisis experienced in recent months in Catalonia by the Covid-19 pandemic is not yet known, beyond the readjustments of companies in the form of Ertes and the losses due to to be able to open establishments and reduce production on farms and factories, the truth is that there is a complicated summer in the community to return to a certain normality that allows companies to react. The Minister of Business and Knowledge of the Generalitat, Àngels Chacón, assured that the tourist fall in the community due to the coronavirus will be "between 41% and 53%, including domestic and international tourism", and recalled that the sector it generates 12% of GDP and 14% of employment.

In statements to Rac1, the consellera remarked that tourism in the rest of Spain represents 8% of tourist income in Catalonia, while «the expenditure of foreign tourists reaches 21,000 million euros. This is more than 85% ». Therefore, she stressed that "the opening of the Schengen area was the most anticipated news for the revival of the tourism sector", admitting that they are optimistic and confident, but also with a certain degree of uncertainty. "We are making the most important investment in tourism promotion that has been made so far in a campaign aimed at local markets", especially in Germany, Belgium and Italy, where the minister believes that there is a growing interest in the Catalan community.

However, the calculations of the Generalitat are pessimistic since the health crisis will make that the visitors who come to Catalonia this summer will be about 10 million when the usual number is 20, despite the fact that Chacón believes that the sector would be satisfied with this precision. In addition, he indicated that tourism companies need "7,500 million euros to avoid the destruction of 90,000 direct jobs" since most establishments are SMEs "and this further limits their opening." "We have experienced a stage of health emergency, but now we have a situation of economic urgency that will lead to a social emergency. It is a time of change, an alert, "said the Minister who calls for rapid action by all administrations as well as the complicity of the sector to react quickly and forcefully. “Catalonia will emerge from this situation for sure, but we must be aware of the needs we have. We cannot go with purely optimistic speeches, we cannot avoid an extremely important responsibility, "he added.

But the tourism sector is not the only one that will suffer the immediate consequences of the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Chacón also assured that 30% of businesses in Catalonia will not reopen their doors after leaving the confinement and return to normal, so the Catalan administration plans to destroy 16% of the jobs generated by this sector, one of the most important in the community by volume of business. “We estimate that 30% of trade will no longer open. Small commerce and large distribution represent 16% of employment. These are many jobs, "said the Minister who recalled that the decline in tourism caused by the pandemic will also affect restaurants, bars and shops in the most tourist areas.

For this reason, the consellera bets as a possible solution solution for the modernization of the sector, since in this way costs can be eliminated in the face of an increasingly focused and practical demand, as demonstrated by a change in purchasing habits caused by forced confinement of the last months, not only in Catalonia but in almost the whole world. “Commerce must integrate new technologies because there is a new generation (of consumers) that behaves differently. Our children already understand online shopping, "said the Minister in her speech.

At the moment, one of the points with more commercial and visitor activity this Sunday was the La Jonquera border, which reopened after almost a hundred days closed due to the health emergency. The shops in the area received French citizens but without crowds.

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