If we had any hope that the summer would bring relief to our economy, then after Boris Johnson’s possible decision, we can forget it.
One of the things that he could announce today is that anybody entering the UK from the 1st of June will have to spend two weeks in quarantine – no British tourist is going to come to Spain knowing that he or she will have to spend 14 days shut up at home afterwards.
This is a recommendation by British airports, so there is a good chance that it will be confirmed by the PM this afternoon when he addresses the nation with details of a whole set of measures.
The British PM might well be swayed by the consideration that British currency normally spent abroad will be spent at home, but then again, Britain has a thriving tourist industry which will be strangled, denying the British economy much needed foreign currency too.
Although many of the 20 million British tourists that Spain receives every year don’t visit our shores in the summer, the message is clear for us; national tourism is what is going to fill our bars, restaurants and chiringuitos.
Neither does it bode well for UK airlines, such as BA, Easyjet and Ryanair, etc because flights have already been reduced by 90% so with 14 days locked up in a domestic slammer it will probably deter even the firmest airport junkies.
Tour operators, struggling under the burden of having to return payment for cancelled package holidays, will probably see this as the nail in the coffin ‘A week in Sunny Spain and two weeks locked up at home,’ is going to be a hard one to sell.
Spain is different has been our slogan for years but the louder message is that Spain has been one of the worse hit countries in Europe as far as contagion goes – never mind that the UK is at present the worst hit with 31,587 deaths to date.
No, Ladies and Gentlemen, at this rate we might as well turn Málaga Airport into a garden centre and the runways into parking lots for the rest of 2020.
Never has there been a more necessary time for spending your money locally, in small businesses than in these coming months.
(News: Spain)
Will you be writing a third article based on the Roche Antibody test. please item d) of my original post.
We have already posted an article on this latest step taken by Spain – we posted it today. As you can imagine, we do not go back through past articles to ammend them. They are correct at the time of posting.
Please refer to item a) of my previous comment.
Updated information on rules about entering Spain. You must meet the requirements in order to enter. From 15 May, additionally, international arrivals will need to self-isolate for 14 days.
Another Project Fear headline (well it sells papers), that leaves out other possibilities.
a. Spain might not want visitors from the UK bringing the virus with them.
b. A vaccine is unlikely but a treatment that makes it manageable not deadly.
c. A simple quick test to prove you don’t carry the virus and need to be quarantined.
d. An anti-body test to prove you’ve had it and are immune.