It is easy to close the stable door once the horse has bolted....but as I have said on numerous occasions in this space, the Spanish government took the country quite rightly into full lockdown in a matter of hours but they eased it probably too soon.
The economic needs of the country were obviously one of the reasons for the phasing out of the lockdown but now a sizeable part of the country including Catalonia and Aragon are back to square one.
There is a major fear of a second wave and there is speculation that there could even be a second nationwide lockdown which would be a nightmare and a decision which many Spaniards would find hard to stomach.
I think everyone is now coming to the conclusion that the summer season will not really happen this year...hotels on the island have been hit by a wave of cancellations since the government, quite rightly, decided to make face masks compulsory. I was talking to one hotel owner over the weekend who told me in no uncertain terms that “everyone was thinking twice about booking...”
Perhaps, the more sensible approach would have been to scale back the tourist industry taking into account the health fears across Europe. Many businesses will simply not be opening this year...because of a lack of demand. What can the government do?
Really, we should forget this season and start concentrating on summer 2021 when things should be back to normal again and the industry can start functioning once more.