Those of you who had made plans to spend the summer in Barcelona, Ibiza or Mallorca will be relieved to hear this. You just might be able to go to Spain this summer after all. Hello, tapas, shopping sprees, and sunbathing on white-sand beaches!
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Although the Spanishgovernment had announced they'd be reopening their borders in early July, it'll actually be happening sooner than expected. Head of government Pedro Sanchez announced on June 14, 2020, that Spain would be reopening its borders at the same time as other European countries, starting June 21, 2020. On the other hand, Spain's border with Portugal will remain closed.
Spanish Prime Minister announces border opening in July
The Spanish Prime Minister stated on Saturday, at a press conference:
I’m announcing to you that there will be a tourist season this year and I invite all tourist establishments to start to prepare from today to restart their activity in a few days from now.
No date was mentioned, nor details regarding security measures. But Pedro Sanchez encourages travellers to start planning their vacations.
Reopening the borders is crucial for Spain whose tourism sector represents 12% of its GDP. The country is the second-largest travel destination in the world after France.
In 2019, Spain welcomed 83.7 million tourists, which generated 92 billion euros. British, German, and Frenchtourists spent the most money there.
Spain was hit very hard by the coronavirus
After two weeks of reopening the economy Pedro Sanchez said:
The hardest part is over (...) The response of the Spanish people has been formidable. Everyone has fulfilled their mission and they came together to deal with the epidemic.
Next Monday, Madrid and Barcelona will reopen like the rest of the country. A very telling sign as these two cities were the main centres of the coronavirus epidemic in Spain.
Spain has been one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe and has paid a heavy price. 28,678 people lost their lives to COVID-19.
We hope that seeing tourists come in will give cheer Spaniards up a little.
For more details, check out the video at the top of the article.
