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Spain's Tourism Industry Pessimistic Over Big Rebound As COVID Cases Soar
- By The Financial District
- Jul 19, 2021
- 2 min read
In view of high coronavirus figures in Spain, the tourism sector has expressed pessimism about the current summer season, Jan-Uwe Ronneburger reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).
There has been a "sudden drop" in bookings by foreign holidaymakers, state TV station RTVE reported on Saturday, citing Jose Luis Zoreda, vice-president of the Spanish tourism board Exceltur.
"If the coronavirus figures continue to deteriorate, we estimate that tourism will generate a turnover of 37.97 billion euros [44.83 billion dollars] this summer quarter, more than the 24.30 billion in the same period last year, but much less than the 58.37 billion of 2019," the broadcaster quoted the tourism manager as saying.
The industry had hoped for a much stronger recovery in business this summer because of the ongoing vaccination campaign.
In normal times, tourism contributes more than 12 percent to Spain's gross domestic product (GDP), while on the holiday islands of the Balearics and the Canaries, it is even around 35 percent.
The industry secures hundreds of thousands of jobs. To contain the pandemic, some regions, such as Catalonia, Valencia, and Cantabria, have reintroduced night-time curfews in individual municipalities from 1 to 6 am.
Already 8 million of Spain's 47 million inhabitants are affected, the newspaper El Pais wrote. On Mallorca, with a seven-day incidence of 270 new infections per 100,000 residents, this is not yet planned.
On the Canary Islands, where the seven-day incidence rate is 176, a court rejected a curfew. The seven-day incidence for Spain as a whole rose to 300 by Friday. However, the situation in hospitals is not as tense as in previous waves. Just under 10 percent of all beds in intensive care units are occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Within seven days, 56 more deaths due to COVID-19 were registered. This is mainly due to the vaccination campaign. A good 61 percent of all Spaniards have received at least one vaccine dose, and almost 50 percent are fully vaccinated.
