Spain to welcome foreign tourists back from July

Spain is believed to welcome foreign tourists back from July. Picture: Photo by Abhishek Verma from Pexels.

Spain is believed to welcome foreign tourists back from July. Picture: Photo by Abhishek Verma from Pexels.

Published May 25, 2020

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Spain urged foreign tourists on

Monday to return from July as one of Europe's strictest

lockdowns eased, with streets gradually filling again and some

pupils returning to school.

The world's second-most visited nation closed its doors and

beaches in March to handle the Covid-19 pandemic, but has seen

out the worst and plans to lift a 14-day quarantine requirement

on overseas arrivals within weeks.

"It is perfectly coherent to plan summer vacations to come

to Spain in July," Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto told radio

station Onda Cero as Spain geared up to salvage a tourism

industry that normally draws 80 million people a year.

The hard-hit capital Madrid was coming back to life on

Monday, with people allowed back into its main Retiro park and a

few bars and restaurant terraces reopening.

"This is great, I was really looking forward to it. And so

was my dog!" said interior designer Anna Pardo, walking her pet

in the sunshine in the Retiro.

Strolling, jogging and chatting, Madrilenos passed through

the park's shaded alleys or stopped for a moment to enjoy its

small lake, still devoid of the usual rowing boats.

Tourism stocks gain

More cars buzzed through streets.

Though bars and restaurants are now allowed to open terraces

at 50% capacity but cannot welcome clients indoors, few

restarted in Madrid on Monday morning, as businesses weighed the

value of catering to just a few customers.

While most pupils in Spain still need to stay home and study

online, some schools reopened in the northern Basque region.

Spain has recorded 28,752 coronavirus deaths and 235,772

cases, but has seen daily fatalities drop to fewer than 100 for

the last week.

The tourism minister's comments, after similar remarks by

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, lifted shares of tourism-related

stocks, including hotel operator Melia Hotels which rose 14% in

early trading.

In half of the country, including the popular Canary and

Balearic Islands, even more restrictions have been lifted as

lockdown has moved one notch ahead to a phase 2. 

Source: Reuters(Reporting by Inti Landauro, Ingrid Melander, Emma Pinedo;

Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

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