Spain – Spain is fighting to save its embattled tourism industry after the UK government imposed a 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from the country.
Government officials insist the virus is under control and want certain areas to be exempt from the UK self-isolation order, including the Balearic Islands.
About 18 million Britons travelled to Spain in 2019 – about a quarter of all arrivals in the country. But Junior minister of health Helen Whately has defended the quarantine.
Whately said after all the “sacrifices” made during the lockdown, the UK could not take the risk of going back to a situation of rising virus rates across the country.
Spain’s rate of infection has jumped in recent days.
The country has issued stay-at-home orders for some four million residents in Catalonia, including the regional capital Barcelona. On Monday, Catalornia’s President Quim Torra said they could impose even stricter lockdown measures if infection numbers do not improve in the next 10 days.
“We are facing the 10 most important days of summer,” he said.
Torra assured people that the region remained safe for tourists saying “measures had been taken” and people “can visit most of the region safely”.
The tourism industry accounts for 11% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), and a huge number of visitors come from the UK. As a result, Spain has been desperate to bring back visitors to help revive struggling towns and resorts,
