Spain ready to reopen holiday beaches beloved by Brits for summer but they’ll be strictly first come, first served
SPAIN is preparing its phased reopening of beaches in time for the summer season, but sunbathing spots will be on a first come first served basis.
The President of the Regional Government of Andalusia in southern Spain Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla has come out in favour of opening 1,000 kilometres of beaches in July and August.
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This comes after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Brits not to book any summer holidays yet.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier this week, Mr Shapps said: "clearly people will want to see what the trajectory of this disease is in the next few weeks.
"I won't be booking a summer holiday at this point, let's put it that way."
Moreno Bonilla, from the Spanish conservative People's Party said: “We will have to establish a series of perimeters and certain metres.
"Once the capacity is completed we will allow nobody else until there are vaccinations and effective treatment.”
The regional president plans to count on the support of the local police to monitor the beaches and ensure the capacity is respected.
He said he is discussing the best way to open beaches this summer with the hospitality industry and restart economic activity.
He said: “They (the hospitality industry) are willing to certify their premises with cleaning, not only through disinfection but through microbiological cleaning using ozone in hotels and restaurants; they are willing to certify it on a daily basis, which is a guarantee for customers."
We will have to establish a series of perimeters and certain metres.
Moreno Bonilla, from the Spanish conservative People's Party
Reports state that the autonomous community of Andalucia has been one of the least affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as there have been 11,689 cases in the region, representing 5.6 percent of the total in the country.
The number of deaths is reportedly 1,017, which is 4.7 percent of the national total.
The population of Andalusia represents 18 percent of the total number of people who live in Spain.
According to the latest data from the Johns Hopkins University, there have been 204,178 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Spain with 21,282 deaths.
A spokesperson for No10 said there was no certainty on when people would be able to start booking holidays.
They said: "I would say two things on that, one is that while we are making progress in our fight against coronavirus, we are not able to say with certainty at the point in which the social distancing measures can be relaxed.
"In terms of travelling in the UK for holidays, that is not something which the current social distancing guidelines allow for.
"In terms of travel abroad the advice of the (Foreign Office) continues to be that you should only go abroad for essential travel only.
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"As of today it's a fact the guidelines and the official (Foreign Office) advice does not allow for people going on holidays."
In Tenerife, tourists won't be allowed back until at least October according to island bosses.
Regional government chiefs say the plan is to open hotels in July or August for Spanish holidaymakers before receiving foreign tourists in autumn.
Meanwhile, Tenerife was at the centre of an international coronavirus drama in February when the four-star H10 Costa Adeje Palace suffered Spain’s first lockdown after an Italian guest tested positive for Covid-19.
Canary Islands’ president Angel Victor Torres has told local press: “The Canary Islands were the first to have coronavirus in Spain and now we want to be the first out of confinement.”
Today he said the reactivation of international tourism was the third phase of a recovery plan based around Canary Islands’ residents first and mainland Spaniards second.
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Insisting the road back to recovery had to be graduated and “international tourism” would be phase three, he told Spanish daily El Mundo: “That way, in October, November or December, which are good months in the Canary Islands, we can begin to receive tourists from other countries.”
Revealing the regional government’s plans for the reopening of hotels, he added: “The first forecast was June 1.
“Today, that plan is too optimistic. If in the months of July or August we can get hotels open, we would be on the right path.”
