RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Spanish President announced yesterday that the nation’s borders would be opened in July, and vowed to provide health safeguards for tourists while urging Spaniards to plan their holidays within the country.
“There will be a tourist season this summer,” announced President Pedro Sánchez, who urged hotel professionals to “restart their activities within a few days,” arguing that the tourist sector plays a “key role” in the economy and job creation in Spain.
During a press conference, President Sánchez called on Spaniards to plan their vacations and to “benefit from the wonders of the domestic market,” because “many will be able to do so virtually from now on”.
As for international tourism, Pedro Sánchez noted: “Spain awaits you from July, and those coming to Spain can rely on a territory with health safeguards, committed to our planet’s sustainability”.
“Spain needs tourism and tourism needs safety at its origin and safety at its destination, so we will ensure that tourists do not take any risks, nor will they introduce risks to our country,” he said.
According to Sánchez, “there is no conflict between health and business,” not least because “without health, there is no business,” and in that respect he said that “the government will combine strong economic support to the sector with full health safeguards”.
The Spanish President also announced that the “R” infection curve for the novel coronavirus stands at 0.20, “well below one”, and recalled that “two months ago, an infected person was passing the disease on to more than three people”.
However, at the press conference held in the Palace of Justice in Moncloa, the President called for “prudence to overcome the virus in its final stages of slowing down”.
“We are one step away from victory, but we are still in a health emergency, the virus has not disappeared, it is still lurking and we have to keep it away, we must not relax,” he said.
Pedro Sánchez noted that “the most difficult situation has already happened” and among the accomplishments, he stressed that in the week of May 11th to 17th, the number of recovered cases was 13,328, compared to 3,944 new cases.
“We have achieved this, and it was not by chance, but by virtue of willpower, discipline, resolve and the moral of victory,” he assured, acknowledging the “overwhelming work” of health professionals and the “sacrifice of all citizens” “.
As of Monday, he said the whole of Spain would be in stages one and two, and thus family and friends could be reunited, trade and terraces could reopen and the streets would restore their vitality with the “required prudence and responsibility”.
Pedro Sánchez further said that the government endorses the official mourning days, the longest in the current democracy, as of Tuesday when the whole of Spain will be in its slowdown stage.
The chief executive also said that after Spanish society “interrupts the worst health catastrophe of the century,” during the “longest official mourning in the history of democracy,” the flags of public buildings and navy ships will remain at half-mast”.