SHARE
COPY LINK

TOURISM

‘Spain can’t afford another summer like 2020’s, tourism chief

Despite being in the midst of its fourth wave of the coronavirus, Spain cannot afford the financial blow of another summer with limited tourism, the country’s Secretary of State for Tourism has warned.

'Spain can't afford another summer like 2020's, tourism chief
A tourists sits next to a relatively empty beach in Mallorca in April 2021. Photo: Jaime Reina/AFP

As the crucial summer season nears, the potential setbacks for Spain’s tourism industry appear to be mounting up. 

The vaccination campaign seems to face a new hold-up every time it begins to gather speed, limiting Spain’s chances of being removed from countries’ safe travel lists by the summer.

Restrictions such as the now slightly modified ‘masks at all time in public’ rule have also put off some tourists from spending their holidays in Spain, and the rising infections as the country is now officially in its fourth wave have an influence in terms of Spain being viewed as a safe country in the epidemiological sense. 

“We have a serious problem,” Spain’s Secretary of State for Tourism Fernando Valdés said during a talk at Nebrija University in Madrid on Wednesday.

“Spain cannot afford a summer like 2020”.

“Since the consolidation of mass tourism in Spain we’ve never faced anything similar”.

During last year’s high season (July to September) the number of foreign tourists nosedived by 79 percent. 

READ MORE:

Tourism is a pillar of the Spanish economy, accounting for some 12 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and 13 percent of employment.   

“With the pandemic we have learned that consensus is necessary to reach solutions,” Valdés added. 

“Tourism is the only sector capable of generating and balancing wealth. The ability we have to diversify our offer will be what will give us competitiveness”. 

Valdés went on to explain how the strategy to recover its international tourists as soon as possible will be based on environmental, social, sustainable and territorial transformation, arguing that tourism should contribute as an industry to reduce the carbon footprint as well as to distribute wealth and opportunities throughout Spain. 

“You have to confront a new way of understanding tourism,” he stated.

Tourist queue to board a ferry at Ibiza´s harbour July 2020. Photo: Jaime Reina/AFP

In practice, these changes will likely have to be long-term if Spain wants to make up for the 83.7 million tourists that visited the country in 2019. The alternative would be a higher-end end model which isn’t based on mass tourism and generates higher spending per tourist.

In the short-term however, the country’s tourism authorities seem set to want tourists as soon as possible. Whether the tourism model is sustainable will not be as big a priority as ensuring travel to Spain is Covid-safe this summer. 

According to Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto, the country’s vaccine passport scheme will be ready by June

Spain has also said it would set up bilateral travel agreements with third countries if the EU does not reach a consensus on travel rules to the bloc by the summer. 

It may be that Spain chooses to overhaul its tourism industry in the coming years, much to the delight of residents who have grown tired of the boozy all-inclusive model.

But the prospect of losing out on €72 billion in tourism revenue as it did in 2020 could mean that for now the country has to opt for whatever works to bring back the holidaymakers.

“We have to make sure Spain is a safe destination,” Valdés concluded.

“Trust and health guarantees have to continue after the coronavirus crisis.”

READ ALSO:

Spring break: how Spain plans to welcome back tourists before summer

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of 420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of 2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some 200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of 2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

SHOW COMMENTS