The Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, believes that Spain could recover this year half of international tourism it had before the pandemic, that is, around 40 million. This was stated in a Tourism Forum organized by the Europa Press agency.
In 2019, more than 83 million foreign tourists arrived in our country, But this 2020 the figure has plummeted 80% due to mobility restrictions derived from the health crisis, and we have only received 19 million. It is the lowest figure in 30 years.
Maroto is confident that this number can be doubled this year, to reach half of the international tourism that existed before the health crisis broke out. “Perhaps the ideal goal is to get half of the tourists we had in 2019. This would be an achievement,” he said in the aforementioned forum.
The idea is that as vaccination processes progress in the main countries of origin of tourists (United Kingdom and Germany), part of the lost mobility can be recovered. At the moment the scenario does not look very optimistic, as the sector does not expect activity to return until summer. Holy Week is lost. Although foreigners can come to Spain, Spaniards will not be able to move between provinces.
Health certificate
What gives some hope is the health passport, or green digital certificate, which the EU wants to launch as soon as possible and in which Spain intends to be a pioneer. The idea is that it is for summer. It is a document that will collect all the health information of the tourist: if they have been vaccinated or not, the Covid tests that have been done, if they have passed the disease …
The idea is that this document facilitates mobility within the countries of the Union and exempts those vaccinated from having to undergo PCR tests or pass a quarantine in the country of destination, for example. In this sense, Maroto said that these initiatives “allow us to be hopeful and optimistic” about the restart of safe national and international travel in the coming months. ”
It has also pointed out that the Government hopes to reactivate Imserso trips in September and that in October the older population begins to travel. The ministry is already working on the specifications to summon a new contract.
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