The tourism industry in Spain is expected to rebound during the spring season after experiencing a decline as a result of the rapid spread of the Omicron strain.
A senior government source also stated that they estimate the number of overseas tourists this year to be more than two-thirds of the record levels set in 2019, according to Reuters.
“The 2022 expectations are good. What we have is a great desire to travel,” Tourism Secretary Fernando Valdes said at the FITUR tourism summit in Madrid.
When the Coronavirus crisis arose last year, it generated enormous difficulties for the travel and tourist industry, with a big number of individuals losing their employment as a result. It is estimated that almost 202,000 individuals employed in Spain’s travel and tourism industry will be out of work by 2021, primarily as a result of the COVID-19, according to data provided by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTC). As a result of these numbers, employment in this sector has decreased by 19.5 percent.
Additionally, the report revealed that, while travel demand began to rise during the peak summer season of 2021 as a result of the elimination or relaxation of travel restrictions, the demand for jobs began to recover as well, with estimates predicting that the number of people seeking employment will reach more than one million in the second half of last year. One out of every eleven jobs in the travel and tourism industry was eliminated.
The survey also found that roughly 16,000 workers are anticipated to be unemployed by 2022, according to the projections.
More than 8,834,360 cases of COVID-19 infection have been registered in Spain since the beginning of the pandemic, with 91,599 persons succumbing to the disease, according to data released by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Furthermore, as a result of the rapid spread of the Omicron variety, officials in Spain have tightened their entrance regulations in order to prevent a resurgence of infection cases in the country.
Although the epidemic is now affecting international travellers, Spain continues to attract considerable numbers of international visitors. According to data published by Truespana, a total of 30.2 million visitors entered Spain in November, representing a 52.7 percent rise over the figures for the same month in the previous year.
Spain was the world’s second most visited country in 2019, with 80 million international visitors passing through the country during the calendar year. Travel bans and other limitations implemented to halt the spread of the virus prevented a significant comeback in the tourism sector last year, bringing the total to only a third of that figure.
Recent announcements by Spanish officials indicate that they have increased entry restrictions for all European Union and Schengen Zone nations, with the exception of Switzerland. Due to the spread of the Omicron variety and the limits imposed by the Spanish government in an effort to contain it, the number of visitors visiting the country has not increased in recent months.
