Simon Wade
HOSBEC, the Costa Blanca group representing the hospitality industry, has revealed the true concerns of its members, in light of the “failure of virus management” in the region.
Toni Mayor, president of HOSBEC claims that the failure to properly police non-compliance of current regulations is slowing the return to any form of normality.
Mayor said, “One should think about toughening the fines and sanctions because the dangerous feeling of impunity in the face of non-compliance has spread.”
The blanket closing down of an entire industry was criticised, too.
He admitted, “The easy thing is to close everything, but what is truly effective and responsible is to consider health AND the economy every day – and now we are in a position to do so.”
Mayor lamented, “the true fear is that we have gotten into a dead-end circle by not considering other more effective alternatives [to virus control].”
Concluding, “perimeter closures are the clearest example of the failure of the virus management, because no progress has been made in other, more effective strategies to maintain a balance between the health situation and the economic reactivation after a year of health crisis.”
The HOSBEC website states, “tourism-related mobility is not a risk factor and one should not be afraid of normality, but rather learn to live with it.”
A key part of their argument is that a return of tourists should be based on objective data, thorough security procedures and precision tracing.
They claim the current health figures support a return and that mobility should be restored as soon as possible by lifting the perimeter closures.”
