Simon Wade
TOURISM spokesman for the Partido Popular Agustin Almodobar has accused the Spanish government of ‘scaring away’ tourists.
It comes after a two-week quarantine was announced for international travellers arriving into the country from May 15.
Benidorm-born Almodobar sees it having a ‘catastrophic’ effect on summer trade in the city and its surrounding areas.
“Tourism is undoubtedly the most affected sector and this is a blow to the most important industry in Spain,” he said, “implementing [these] measures will only scare tourists away.”
The 42-year-old said he has been working closely with businesses in tourism for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic, something which he claims the government has ignored.
He suggested that while other European countries have worked to redevelop tourism, Spain’s industry has been left at a disadvantage.
“France, Italy, Portugal and Germany are promoting openwork measures so that their tourism sectors come out of the crisis as strong as possible”, he said.
A cessation of taxes for tourism companies is also on his agenda, as the industry prepares to recover from more than two months of lockdown.
Almodobar has long been a critic of the PSOE government, previously stating on his own website: “The socialist government of Pedro Sanchez treats the tourism sector with genuine contempt.”
But this week’s criticism goes further with diariodelevega.com quoting him as saying: “While the Sanchez government despises tourism companies, the Partido Popular demands they implement measures to mitigate the effect of the crisis in a sector on which 300,000 people in the community depend.”
Predictably, the covid crisis has already divided on political lines. On the Right, just as predictably, we have the blind urge for commercial profit at any cost. On the Left, the urge to protect life and health at any cost.
Guess who will prevail?