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Garamendi proposes that tourists be tested for antigens in pharmacies to regain activity

The president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, has asked that antigen tests be carried out in airports and that safe corridors be established to reactivate tourism in Spain. He has also suggested that these tests be done in pharmacies. “In pharmacies they could be done in a temporary way, provided there was a protocol. There are ways to manage it “, he pointed out in an act of the Tourism Board.

Both Garamendi and the president of the Tourism Board, Juan Molas, have defended that the cost of testing tourists at origin and destination would save many millions of euros that are being used in ERTE that affect workers in the sector.

For example, test 50 million tourists who come to Spain (So ​​far this year only 16 million have arrived) it would have a cost (with a price of between five and 10 euros for each test) of 1,000 million euros, counting on what would be done when arriving and leaving.

Against those 1,000 million, In the ERTE we already have, “between what was spent and what remains to be spent”, 23,000 million euros, according to Molas, who has asked that tourism be reactivated from April 1 to save spring and summer.

Shared spending

Garamendi has said that those 1,000 million “would not be paid by the State.” He recalled that in Spain there is a tourist tax, “which is not being charged”, since no tourists arrive. “Let’s remove that fee and let it be invested in this test,” he pointed out.

“This cost (of the tests) is not the barrier so that nobody decides not to come to Spain”said Garamendi, who has said that the CEOE is going to bet on two tools to recover activity: the antigen test and the application of Radar Covid. The first to prevent, the second to track.

Garamendi recalled that so far this year 16 million tourists have arrived in Spain, compared to the more than 60 million who arrived last year around the same dates. 17,000 million euros this year, compared to the more than 70,000 million collected last year.

“This shows the real gap it represents for tourism.” “The Spanish tourism industry is a world leader and we have ultinationals all over the world. From other countries they look at us to see how we do it,” he said.

No christmas

Garamendi He recalled that in Spain, in this sector, “there is nobody or anything left over”. The ERTE, with these new measures, “will fall short, because we do not know what will happen with Christmas or Easter, or who is going to celebrate weddings or baptisms before May”, he said.

“We have to live with the coronavirus until it reaches a vaccine and the industry has the capacity to manage this, if it is allowed to,” he added.

With regard to European funds, he has asked that part of this money be allocated to projects such as the Madrid-Barajas hub (a hub for air connections), key for connections with Latin America. “It would not be bad to have an AVE connection between Madrid and the Barajas terminals”, has said.

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