Prime Minister of Spain delivered another blow to the tourism industry by declaring that he doesn’t expect to welcome tourists to Spanish shores until nearly all of the population has been vaccinated. Speaking at the 113th meeting of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) held in Madrid on Wednesday, January 20, Mr Sanchez said: “Only mass vaccination will open the way to the normality we want.”
The Prime Minister went on to say that once 70 per cent of Spain’s population had been vaccinated, which he expects to happen by the end of the 2021 summer season, the country would “progressively” prepare to welcome international tourists.
Pointing out that Spain is leading in the vaccine rollout, being ninth in the world and one of the first in Europe, Mr Sanchez added that our country will be “the beacon of the resurrection of tourism in all the world” and that the action the tourism industry takes now “will draw the tourism of the future.”
The Prime Minister’s news will make difficult reading for almost every industry in Spain, as bars, restaurants and leisure facilities are already on their knees and were counting on a busy summer season to recoup some of their losses.
Spain was the second most-visited country in the world 2019, with an estimated 83 million tourists. This figure fell by more than 75 percent in 2020 to fewer than 20 million. Read more here.
