Joshua Parfitt
A FAMILY on holiday in Denia have complained of ringing ‘eight’ top restaurants last Sunday but not finding a single table free.
The mother of the family, named Maria in local reports, said she had driven down from Valencia to the Costa Blanca in search of good food, the sea and quiet.
One of the fully-booked restaurants said visitors from Valencia were travelling down to Denia as its local region has gone for a month without a single new COVID-19 infection.
It comes as television stations this week have covered an overbooking crisis in Altea, while Calp and Javea have featured in reports of a similar sudden influx of tourism.
It also follows the end of Spain’s strict lockdown last Sunday, June 21, that instantaneously lifted restrictions on travelling between provinces and autonomous communities.
International tourists are also allowed to fly in to Spain from EU nations and the UK, though only a handful of flights are leaving.
The Valencian Government has today revealed a reserve of 6,000 hospital beds across field hospitals and hotels in anticipation of a tourism-borne spike in coronavirus infections.
However, regional president Ximo Puig is confident enough with current figures to begin pushing for social distancing between tables at bars to restaurants to reduce to 1.5m.
President Ximo Puig has asked the regional Health Ministry to look at the implications of cutting the space and how it would affect potential coronavirus transmissions.
The region has already reduced national social distancing measures of 2m down to 1.5m after the central Ministry of Health granted flexibility to the region for its good statistics.
Puig said that he was keen to help the hospitality sector by increasing their customer base and that he also wants to make moves towards opening nightclubs.
