World Travel & Tourism Council believes international holidaymakers could return to Spain this summer given huge interest from Brits & Germans

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) believes that international tourism could return to Spain this summer, given the huge interest particularly from British and German holidaymakers.

ACCORDING to Gloria Guevara, President and CEO of WTTC, tourism can potentially return to Spain this summer, so long as adequate safety protocols are deployed, and that plans are coordinated with the rest of the EU and the private sector to avoid the risk of Covid-19.

“It obviously won’t be at the same volume as last year, but it could be an interesting percentage to save the summer, along with national tourism, given the huge interest particularly from German and British holidaymakers keen to spend their holidays in Spain,” pointed out Guevara.

Tour operators are already piloting tourism programmes to open some markets in the south of Europe to holidaymakers, which could include Spain, confirmed Guevara. However, she admits, that “Portugal and Greece have an advantage over Spain, given their faster response to Covid-19.” So Spain has its work cut out to demonstrate that it is a safe destination for international tourists, along with other ‘Covid-19 epicentre countries,’ such as Italy, the US, the UK and China.

However, she added that the WTTC is against the introduction of health/immunity passports to allow people to travel, similar to the ones introduced decades ago. Not only are they “complicated,” but they also pave the opportunity for “potential corruption,” she added.