Drones and cameras could be keeping an eye on beachgoers on Spain’s Costa Almeria in new coronavirus normality

RESTRICTIONS: There could be designated entry and exit points and limits on the number of people allowed onto the beaches CREDIT: Ayuntamiento de Vera Facebook @aytovera

HIGH temperatures and clear blue skies on the Costa Almeria in recent stays have got people wandering even more longingly when they can enjoy swimming and sunbathing on the province’s beaches once again.
Some of the beaches in the Levante area are now no longer completely cordoned off to the public. But even so, people are only allowed onto the sand for their daily hour’s dose of exercise, and they must live within a kilometre’s distance.
In locations like Mojacar however, entry to the beaches has been completely prohibited since the start of the coronavirus crisis lockdown in mid-March and for now it remains that way.
The Junta de Andalucia is pushing for the region’s beaches to reopen later this month. But whether they open sooner or later, what is certain is that beachgoers’ experience in the new coronavirus reality is going to be somewhat different to what they are used to.
Restrictions could include establishing designated entry and exit points, limits on the number of people allowed on the beaches and an obligation to observe social distancing, which then raises the issues of how to ensure beachgoers are complying with the rules and that there are no risks to public health.
A great part of the tourism in the coastal municipalities in the Levante area of the province is national, and the hope is that visitors from other parts of Spain will choose the location for their holidays this summer as a safe destination. Of course this would also mean that demand to get onto the beaches will be high.
With all this in mind, local councils are weighing up the options on measures to guarantee the safety of their beaches for residents and tourists.
Vera for example is considering installing surveillance cameras to detect how many people are on the sand, while Pulpi is thinking about using drones to keep an eye on the San Juan de los Terreros coast, Spanish press reports.
The Pulpi local authority is also reportedly looking at distributing people around its different beaches to prevent too many coming together in one place.
Other municipalities like Cuevas del Almanzora report they are waiting to find out what regulations the Health Ministry sets out before deciding how to proceed on the locality’s 15 kilometres of coast.
It is much the same story in Carboneras, where two beaches – Las Marinicas and El Algarrobico – are now open to walkers.
Mojacar is meanwhile preparing an extensive safety plan for its beaches with a view to preventing any risk of coronavirus contagion and to ensure beachgoer complete peace of mind.

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Written by

Cathy Elelman

Cathy Elelman is the local writer for the Costa de Almeria edition of the Euro Weekly News.

Based in Mojacar for the last 21 years, Cathy is very much part of the local community and is always well and truly up on all the latest news and events going on in this region of Spain.

Her top goals are to do the best job she can informing the local English-speaking community, visitors to the area and the wider world about about the news in Almeria, to learn something new every day, and to embrace very new challenge this fast-changing world brings her way.

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