Cuts in Tourism

Tourism seems to be one of the largest losers for this year. In short, there won’t be hardly anyone travelling by air (or sea) in the remains of 2020, thanks to the coronavirus. It’s not just the consideration that no one wants to be cooped up in a metal coffin (coughing) flying through the skies from one airport to another, followed by a bus ride and two weeks sharing the same hotel restaurant and swimming pool with strangers, or of course to be trapped in a cruise-liner with two thousand others and the people in the next cabin with runny noses.

Oh, the local businesses will be more anxious than ever to welcome what trade they can find, but they will be forced to adopt government restrictions which will put a large dent in their takings. Just for an example – the distance between tables.

Many businesses in the service sector will go bust, including many/most of those foreign-owned bars and restaurants, which may be paying over-the-top rents to inflexible local landlords, and who rely primarily on tourism.

From La Ser comes:  ‘The European Union advises against "booking" and the summer holidays for "July and August"’ . It also notes that ‘According to Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, the isolation of the elderly could be extended "until the end of the year"’.

While some Spanish voices turn hopefully towards an increase in domestic tourism in 2020, again, the prospect won't offer much encouragement to the foreign-owned bars and restaurants on the costas.

Certainly, Easter was a bust, with the industry losing 18,000 million euros over the Semana Santa.  

The Canaries, a traditional tourist destination, where 87% of visitors are foreigners, expects to lose around 80% of its usual visitor numbers in 2020, says the regional government, which means a forecasted loss of 30% of the islands’ GDP. A similar situation awaits Mallorca.

Tourism, says El Confidencial gloomily, will return to the España of the fifties.