Spain and Greece use opposing strategies to attract tourists

Francina Armengol highlights why the summer tourist season is so important when the Spanish Balearic Islands established the economic destruction caused by the coronavirus pandemic – a wild fall last year 24 percent.

“The economy has come to a complete halt,” said the head of the archipelago that includes Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza, which attracts 14 million foreign visitors in a good year. On the eve of a new tourist season, only about five of the region’s approximately 1,000 hotels are open.

The situation in the Balearic Islands is also significant in Spain, which grew in 2020 the worst in the industrialized world. But they share the pandemic with other economically oppressed Spanish and Greek islands and hope it will be their salvation as they prepare to return to mass tourism.

German tourists are already returning to welcome the hosts and bar owners. But the difference between success and failure may lie in winning visitors to the UK.

Spain said on Friday it would accept UK tourists from 24 May; Greece opened for visitors to the UK last month. Either or both are excluded from the “green list” of destinations where UK citizens can travel without rigorous testing and quarantine conditions.

Before the tourist season, the Spanish and Greek islands take different routes.

Spain waited longer to open up to British tourists, although it is still ahead of the formal EU orientation.

Greece is making its way, opening earlier, inserting people into tourism-dependent islands ahead of the rest of the population, and accepting foreign visitors inserted with shots not yet approved by EU pharmaceutical guards.

“Some destinations are playing irresponsible games and sometimes there are irresponsible proposals,” Armengol said. “Public health is fundamental.”

Covid has highlighted the steep edges of the Balearic Islands – a stark contrast Madrid, which sought to relax restrictions and controls on transit and transportation on the mainland. The 14-day infection rate in the Balearic Islands is less than a third of the total in Spain, while it is seven days rate is below United Kingdom.

Given these statistics, Spain is pushing the UK to assess destination safety at the regional level and not at the national level. He believes that this would allow British travelers – the second largest source of tourism for the Whale after Germany and the main source for the whole of Spain – to return to the islands and other places.

The importance of this step was underscored this week when the UK government gave advice on any destination that is not “green”. UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has stressed that visitors to some “amber” countries like Spain or Greece will have to undergo a number of tests and quarantine when they return to the UK. If the country is “amber” or “red,” please don’t travel on vacation, ”he stressed.

The return of British tourists is economically essential for Spain and Greece. Both saw a drop in the number of tourists of almost 80% last year; both are looking to return to mid-2019 levels this year.

Under the current situation, tourism accounts for about 12% of Spain’s gross domestic product, and in Greece it accounts for about one-fifth of production. Corfu, a favorite destination for British visitors, is home to around 90 per cent, directly or indirectly, by tourism, according to the head of the hotel association on the island of Charalmbos Voulgaris. He warned that if this summer is as bad as 2020 it will be “disastrous”.

With so much at stake, Greece said in April that tourists from the UK were welcome. It spread to all countries this month. Russia is the first EU country to allow people vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which is not yet approved by blockchain drug regulators or the WHO.

“Russia is an important market for us,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the Financial Times. “We are working hard to comply with EU rules, but in order to welcome tourists to Greece who have been vaccinated with Sputnik for a week, I see no problem.”

The country also uses its own vaccination strategy to ensure the safety of tourist sites. Thirty-two Greek islands have already had their population completely vaccinated and have been named the country’s first “Covid-free” areas. The government aims to fully integrate another 36 medium-sized islands by the end of May and 19 larger ones by the end of June.

But Greece does not exercise similar control over the Balearic Islands on their round trips to the mainland and about 100 of its islands. Instead, the whole country hopes to make the UK green list.

British officials have stated that the list, which will be presented early next month, will focus specifically on the islands as much as possible – and will give priority to the UK’s largest tourist markets. Portugal, which is already open to tourism, is the only EU country on the UK’s green list.

“We are regularly reviewing data on each island, as we do in all countries and territories,” said the UK Department for Transport.

With this vision, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands will be able to get the British ahead of the whole of Spain. But it could indicate problems for Greece because of its infection rate 80 percent Larger than the Spanish, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Shapps told the FT that it is unlikely that “people will have to wait for other countries to be included on the green list,” citing progress on the EU’s vaccination program.

In any case, Greece is looking further afield. It will have more flights from the US by the end of the month before the pandemic.

“This is not a normal summer,” said Assistant Prime Minister Akis Skertsos. “Security is an issue. . . We want visitors to trust us. “