Spain hopes number of foreign tourists will rebound
Spain hopes the quantity of foreign tourists viewing its sun-kissed islands and picturesque villages may rebound this season to half pre-pandemic amounts, Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto said on Monday.
"Maybe the ideal goal is ... to get 50 percent of the tourists we had in 2019. This, for the industry, will be an achievement," she said within an function held by Europa Press information organization. In 2019, Spain possessed the world's second highest quantity of foreign visitors at a lot more than 80 million. This plummeted by a lot more than 80% to 19 million visitors in 2020, the cheapest level since 1969, as a result of the travel limitations imposed to curb the pandemic.
While tourism accounted for about 12% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 and one job on eight, activity plunged on 2020. The industry accounted for between 4% and 5% of Spain's national productivity, regarding to estimates from the Funcas think-tank.
The Spanish government is among countries pushing hard for international vaccine certificates to be equipped for the summer season. Thousands of German tourists found its way to Spain's Balearic islands at the weekend, in a welcome boost for local tourism which has designed some controversy at home as Spaniards cannot go as a result of a travel ban.
