"While the tourism sector is closed, the public coffers stop receiving almost 7 million euros a day, a situation that, as it is prolonged, leads the Archipelago to regional bankruptcy." This is the estimate made by the Canary Islands Government, which this Wednesday insisted on the need to "advance" as much as possible the tourist reopening of the islands, where the sector represents 35% of GDP and 40% of employment.
"There is no other similar productive source that ensures the sustenance of our current living conditions in the short and medium term, so the urgent recovery of the tourism sector is vital for the Islands," said the Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla. For this reason, she has insisted on defending the plan in which they continue working to turn the Canary Islands "into a laboratory for redesigning processes throughout the value chain of tourism activity, creating and verifying protocols for each service and minimizing any risk in order to transmit health security."
In any case, after the de-escalation plan announced by the Spanish Government, any possibility of starting tourism between the islands in the short term has been ruled out, since none of the phases of that plan (which will arrive at least until the end of June) allows travel outside the province or island of residence.
First stage with inter-island tourism that will not allow all hotels to reopen
Regarding the calendar it manages for the sector, the Canary Islands Ministry of Tourism has indicated that for June it contemplates "resuming part of its activity in each island area in isolation and gradually starting interregional movement". To this end, it demands that "surveillance over borders must be strict and rigorous, since we cannot risk another outbreak and start a new quarantine from scratch that would end up sinking us economically and in the long term."
For the following months of July, August and September, the Canary Islands Government estimates that "the development of inter-island tourist activity would be possible, and, in the best scenario, the possible arrival of foreign tourism (national and foreign) under the assumption of control of the epidemic at the origin or having the means for testing and traceability of travelers." However, there is still maximum uncertainty on this point, given that no estimated deadline has yet been given to reopen air traffic, which must also be done in accordance with other countries.
Thus, in a scenario in which there could only be domestic tourism during the summer, the Executive is already anticipating that "that volume "would not allow the opening of all establishments, but only part of them." And those that do, "must be prepared to offer health guarantees," they warn from the Ministry.
Likewise, it assures that "the forecasts with which we are working indicate that in October there will already be a European control of the epidemic and a significant improvement in the accessibility to tests to verify contagion and/or antibodies, so, from that date, it would be possible to enter a stage of certain 'normality' for the start of the winter season gradually."