coronavirus

The president of the Bureau of Tourism, Juan Molas, has sent a letter to the president of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, in which he assesses that the tourism sector could lose more than 90,000 million euros this year and suffer a strong destruction of employment, so it is requested that the Government adopts ‘exceptional measures’ for an activity that represents 12.5% of GDP and 13% of national employment.

The study carried out by the Tourism Board on the economic impact of the epidemic on tourism companies outlines three possible scenarios depending on the evolution of the health emergency:

– Firstly, in the least negative scenario, the possibility is considered that the tourist season could start under normal conditions at the beginning of June this year. This would represent an overall loss of 25,000 million euros, taking into account the cancellations of several major events, such as the MWC in Barcelona, the Fallas in Valencia, Feria de Sevilla, etc., not to mention the usual flow of tourism on these dates and in particular, Easter.

– Secondly, if the season could not start until mid-July, this would represent a summer period of just over 80 days and losses could reach 45,000 million euros, as the flow of foreign visitors could fall below 60% by 2019.

– Finally, the worst case scenario, that is, that the most important traditional markets (British, German, French, Italian, among others) could not or would not travel for health reasons or simply for economic reasons.

In that case, the losses for the whole sector could reach more than 90 billion euros and the consequent closures and bankruptcies of thousands of companies, as well as the destruction of a large percentage of tourism employment.

Exceptional measures for tourism enterprises

In his letter to Pedro Sánchez, the President of the Tourism Board expressed his disappointment that the Government has not shown special deference to tourism, which is a fundamental sector in the social and economic stability of the State as a whole and Spain is one of the most competitive countries in the world in terms of tourism.

It hurts us that member countries of the European Union are taking measures of great level and high responsibility that reflect a greater sensitivity, understanding and commitment in favour of the search of solutions in the short, medium and long term, with special financial, fiscal and labour measures, to avoid that thousands of companies are forced to close their activities definitively’, argues Juan Molas in his writing.

As exceptional measures against a crisis that is also, the Bureau of Tourism requests the Government to immediately articulate and facilitate the amount of the lines of guarantees up to 100% of the credits for companies.

Otherwise, it is argued, the financial sector will find it difficult to articulate the lines requested.

The Tourism Board also asks the Executive to postpone tax payments in any area -state, regional or municipal- as well as social security contributions for the months between March and September, until the most convenient date agreed with the private sector.

In relation to the ERTES, the tourist grouping requires a greater capacity, speed of management and the possibility of extending them beyond the end of the state of alarm, taking into account the fall in demand in general and the closures of companies.