Europe’s Tourist Hot Spots Dream Of Swift Summer Restart
“You can’t travel, but you can keep on dreaming,” the message reads. The accompanying video depicts a carefree paradise, full of sun and blue sky, secluded beaches and picturesque mountaintops. This, according to the tourism board for the Spanish island of Mallorca, which released the video on Friday, is what the post-coronavirus world holds for us all.
It’s a hopeful vision — particularly at a time when hospitals around the world are being overwhelmed by patients and medical supplies are stretched thin.
“This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of many Americans’ lives,” the U.S. surgeon generalwarned on Sunday, ahead of an expected surge in coronavirus-related deaths. “The next week is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment.”
In Europe, however, there are signs that the pandemic might be starting to peak. Italy registered its lowest day-to-day increase in deaths in more than two weeks — 525, said Angelo Borrelli, the head of the Civil Protection agency. The pace of infection also seemed to be slowing.
Spain recorded its lowest daily death toll in 13 days on Monday. According to the Ministry of Health, 637 patients died overnight, taking the total to 13,055.
“We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said.
For Spain, in particular, where almost 900,000 people have lost their jobs since mid-March, getting the coronavirus epidemic under control soon will be critical for the economy. Summer is the key season for the economy, as tourism represents 12% of the country’s gross domestic product. Spain received 83.7 million travelers in 2019, breaking a record for the seventh consecutive year. But if the pandemic is not controlled and the restrictions on flights are not lifted, tourists will not be able to come.
“The pandemic is going to stop, but we have to get it done before the summer, because it is the time when jobs increase in Spain,” Octavio...
