INSIGHT SPAIN MARKET
Running on empty
Spain, the land of fiestas, is currently in a permanent
state of siesta thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Te once popular seaside holiday resorts are ghost towns. Shuttered shops, restaurants and closed beaches have been a common façade for the last two months and the only visitors are the police and military, which roll through the towns like tumbleweed keeping residents indoors.
Lock down began officially in Spain on March 16 and confined people to their homes, only permitting them to go shopping, to the pharmacy, walk their dog, attend to relatives in need and in some cases go to work (key workers and essential services only). Te State of Alarm was later extended until May 24 whilst de- escalation began on May 11 and is expected to run until end of June at least.
Te eight week de-escalation period involves the gradual lifting of restrictions including the re-opening of bars, restaurants, hotels and leisure venues with limited capacity initially.
Spain is currently the second worse hit country in Europe in terms of virus cases. As of May 8 there were 256,855 cases with just over 26,000 deaths. Te number of reported cases peaked at the beginning of April with around 8,000 new cases daily. Since then it has been dropping to around 2,000 new cases per day and around 200 deaths per day compared to the peak of 950 daily at the beginning of April (
worldometers.info).
Te Coronavirus outbreak has hit Spain where it hurts the most. Te tourism and leisure market. Tis tourism sector contributes around 14 per cent to the GDP and is the second economic powerhouse after trade. Some 83.7 million visitors flocked to Spain’s sunny shores last year and the country is ranked second on the World Tourism Organisation’s most visited countries chart.
As hotels closed so did cultural and art shows, sports venues, open spaces, public roads, recreational activities, bars, restaurants and leisure venues and of course casinos, gambling halls, bingo halls, sports stadiums and betting halls all had to shut up shop for the duration.
P32 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
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