The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez , said yesterday, that he is convinced that once 70% of the population is vaccinated against Covid-19, which he is advised will be by the end of the summer, Spain will be prepared to receive international tourists en masse again. Anything before that will be reduced numbers as vaccination takes place.
"Only mass vaccination will open the way to the normality that we want," he said in his speech at the 113th meeting of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), held yesterday (Tuesday) in Madrid.
“The Government is working hard to vaccinate people at the highest possible rate, and in fact Spain is the ninth ranked country in the world in vaccinations so far, and one of the top in Europe, to reach 70% of the population by the end of the summer which will allow Spain to be progressively better prepared to receive international tourists”, said Sánchez.
In addition, he pointed out that crises are opportunities to "carry out the pending transformations that come from afar, to configure a more sustainable tourism sector, rooted in the environment, the backbone of the territory and that respect the diversity and identity of each place.”
He added that what is done now in the sector "will draw the tourism of the future", which must be inspired by digitization, ecology, diversity, equality and sustainable development goals (SDG). Thus, “a model capable of generating prosperity and preserving the environment, traditions and history will be built.”
Sánchez has reviewed the funds allocated to the sector in the General State Budgets for 2021, in which 660 million euros are collected for sustainability plans, 150 million to rehabilitate buildings for tourist use, 64 million more for the plan of digital transformation, and 46 million for the resilience strategy of destinations such as the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands.
The funds, including those of the European Recovery Plan, total 3.4 billion, which will have an induced impact of 44 billion euros.
