It’s official. Spain’s tourism minister, Reyes Maroto, has stated that all Spaniards can now start planning their summer holidays. Happy days indeed, the minister predicting that the country will this summer attract at least 50% of the number of foreign tourists who came in 2019. The light is shining bright at the end of the tunnel and it illuminates a digital green certificate and a shot of vaccine.
Note that Sra. Maroto said start planning. She didn’t say start booking, although one guesses that she was implying this. Let’s hope, therefore, that flexible cancellation policies aren’t invoked. We can’t go through all that again. It would be total disaster on top of the first wave of wipeout.
Will Sra. Maroto be wandering the proms of resorts in summer, greeting tourists with a cheery smile and a gift of a free Viva España t-shirt? She may be hoping not. That’s because a seemingly less stressful job is being lined up for her.
If all goes to PSOE plan, she’ll have her feet under a Madrid region vice-presidential desk before the summer has even started.
What is more important to Spain - running the government or running key regions? Sra. Maroto is the latest.
One-time health minister, Salvador Illa, was sent on a Catalonia election mission.
Second deputy prime minister, Pablo Iglesias, has departed in an attempt to rid Madrid of the right-wing. Good riddance, some might say, but they were ministers at a time when crisis was still prevailing.