Good News For Spain’s Tourist Industry as Land Borders with France and Portugal Open on June 22

Spain’s Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, has announced that on June 22, Spain will lift its previous border restrictions with France and Portugal.

Yesterday, Maroto hinted that there “will be a tourist season” this year which will provide a much-needed boost to the economic sector.

According to the Minister her department will resume tourism in some regions by the second half of June, and the TUI operator is expected to take around 6,000 German visitors to the Balearic archipelago.

The coronavirus pandemic brought the entire hospitality and tourism industry to a sudden halt in the middle of March, and only two months later things have started to slowly re-open and re-adjust to the new climate.

Spain has definitely felt an added sense of pressure to open its borders and welcome tourists, especially since its Mediterranean neighbours, Italy and Greece, announced they would do the same. Given that Spain is the second country which receives most tourists worldwide, the industry has not wanted to give up that title.

The initial date for welcoming tourists was set as July 1, however, as things are constantly in flux, the evolution of politics, the health crisis, and the end to the State of Alarm has brought this date forward. Due to the aforementioned reasons, combined with the pressure from competing counties any region will be able to welcome tourists on June 22, as long as the established security conditions are upheld.

According to Maroto, the first regions to do so will be the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands.

Furthermore, the central government has always agreed that quarantine would remain in place as long as mobility within the country is prohibited, and Pedro Sanchez has already announced that on June 21, it will be possible to travel freely throughout the country.

Italy, the first European country to be affected by Covid-19, decided to open its borders yesterday; Belgium plans to do the same on June 15, the date issued as a recommendation by the European Union.

Furthermore, there is the competing countries such as Greece, Portugal or Croatia, who are testing out the possibility of reopening borders on June 15, although with certain nuances, in order to be the first out of the EU members to do so.

What is not comparable is the attractiveness of Spain, which brings in about 20.1 million tourists each summer. However, it is also that the same number of people will travel to the nation as last year, as many will be fearful of contracting the virus.

“I do not think that this summer we are in a position to recover our losses quickly,” explained the president of the Amadeus reservation company, Luis Maroto, at a seminar organised by the Spanish Association of Directors.