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Spain will start shutting nightspots this week after they were blamed for spikes in the coronavirus cases that triggered new travel warnings, dealing another body blow to the country’s $175 billion tourism industry.
From Ibiza to the crowded urban nightspots of Madrid, some 25,000 discos and clubs were emerging only feebly from one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns that ended in June. Suspending operations again was one of 11 measures the country’s regional governments agreed to take to curb the fastest virus growth rate among Europe’s major economies.
The government’s seven-week experiment to restore the country’s famed nightlife and help reinvigorate the hotel and restaurant sectors seems a failure for now after the Health Ministry said nighttime socializing was fueling new outbreaks. Total cases surged by more than 27,000 last week alone. The Spain at Night industry group will take the government to court to fight the ban, its president, Ramon Mas, said. Instead of a shutdown, the sector needs a financial bailout, he said.
“This will devastate us,” said Antonio Gomez, whose SpainTOP travel agency in Madrid arranges a la carte trips for foreigners. “People don’t travel to Spain any more just for sun and beaches -- they go to Cyprus for that. They come here more for the gastronomy and the night life.”
Over the weekend the Netherlands raised its travel advisory level to orange for three Spanish regions, including Madrid and the Balearic Islands, both popular tourist destinations, and three provinces. The advisory discourages nonessential travel and requires self quarantine upon return to the Netherlands. TUI AG, the world’s biggest tourism operator, suspended its tours to Spain from both the U.K. and Germany, after their governments issued similar warnings.
“It was totally incongruent to allow indoor clubs to reopen, and without insisting always on masks, yet put strict measures elsewhere,” said Pedro Macho, who took his family for the summer to the beach town of Chiclana in the south. “Here we are walking on the sand, and everyone is wearing masks, and kicking a ball is banned!”
New cases, over 4-day periods.
Spanish Health Ministry
The jump in new cases is outpacing increases in other countries. In the past 14 days, Spain produced 116 new cases per 100,000 people, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. That tops just 41 in France, 19 in Great Britain, 16 in Germany and 9.3 in Italy.
Nightclubs were also facing a crackdown in Italy, Corriere della Sera newspaper reported on Sunday. The government has ordered clubs to shut from Monday until the beginning of September at the earliest, and masks will be required in public spaces from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., the newspaper said.
Even though many of the newly infected in Spain are young people who remain asymptomatic, hospitalizations and deaths have also begun to tick higher. Hospitals took in 1,015 virus patients last week, up from 677 the previous week. There were 62 virus-related deaths last week, up from 16 previously.
Spanish Surge Tests Government Claim That Virus Is Under Control
The new anti-Covid rules need to implemented by Spain’s 17 regional governments, so it remains to be seen how quickly or completely they will enact the non-binding measures. The head of Spain’s emergency response said last week he wouldn’t rule out closing schools in September if necessary, as he expected an increase in cases next month.
Among the new restrictions this week are ones limiting restaurants from allowing new customers in after midnight, with a full shutdown by 1 a.m.
“This clampdown hits at the very essence of Spain, or at least its image,” Gomez said. “Saint-Tropez also has great beaches and gastronomy but at 2 a.m. it’s dead, while Spain is still happening. People come here as much for the late-night partying as anything else.”
— With assistance by Wout Vergauwen, and John Follain
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August 17, 2020 at 06:06AM
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