The hotels and tourist establishments in the Canary islands will reopen its doors to the public next Monday, may 11, after the Ministry of Health has authorized you to all of the Islands move to phase I of the desescalada. According to the order published Saturday in the Official Gazette of the State, the security measures for the opening should, however, be strict.
Among others, the catering services will be allowed but not in the common areas, which are disabled. In addition, it is to be delivered to the customers dispensers gels hidroalcohólicos or disinfectants approved by the Ministry, to respect the distance of two meters between the workers and with the customers, clean up every two hours as a minimum all the areas and objects that can be manipulated and infected by several people and set up orders clean-up after the departure of the guests.
Despite this conditioned re-opening of the hotels, the ministry of Tourism not estimated the reactivation of the sector “to October”, given that the president of an autonomous region, Angel Victor Torres, has requested the central Government that the international borders are open at the end of the desescalada and not before.
For their part, entrepreneurs in the sector believe that the recovery of the activity will have to wait. “We will not open Monday, is a not dry and firm (…) nor did I dare to give dates, but it may be end of summer or beginning of autumn”, says Enrique Talg, vice president of Ashotel and owner of one of the Hotel Tigaiga in Puerto de la Cruz.
The main market of this historic property passed by Germany, that it will not open borders until the 15th of June. In this sense, Talg believes that “more to seduce the tourists, we have to go back to encourage them, be friendly and helpful as we are the canaries. The challenge is now that the hotels must meet the health standards, but may not resemble an operating room. Among so much partition, gloves and distancing, our industry has the big challenge of re to give them the heat that wants to be human”.
The vision of one of the major tourist markets, Germany
More than three million germans choose each year the Canary islands to spend their holidays, around 18 per cent of the total. With the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden and Norway, this is one of the main countries of origin for the tourism of the Archipelago, which, however, has been standing dry for the Covid-19.
“TUI, the largest tour operator in Germany, has suspended its program of travel until 14 June, but has open reservation from 15 to 31 August, with the option of change, loyalty bonuses, etc,” notes Carmen Vineyards, a correspondent of the BE in Berlin.
With respect to the institutional approaches, the State secretary of Tourism, Thomas Bareiss, advocates that the germans spend their holidays in nearby places as the Balearic islands or the Greek Islands if the pandemic is controlled in these regions and shows a health care systems resistant.
“A week before the 15 June, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will decide if it continues or relaxes the control of borders (…) however, a couple of weeks ago Bareiss commented that it would be easier to travel to other areas of the Mediterranean such as Morocco. What worries them most is the coastal area in the Italian, Greek and Spanish,” says Vines.
With regard to the German media, the journalist himself says, “are very hopeful” with a resumption of tourism in the Canary islands is much more rapid than in the rest of Spain,” but “do not venture to give dates.”
–
