international tourism in Spain

international tourism in Spain. | - EFE

Andrew EdePalma01/05/2021 15:50
TW
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Simón Pedro Barceló and tourism minister Iago Negueruela are of one mind - vaccination priority should not be given to tourism sector workers. If the minister believes he has an ally in one of Mallorca’s leading hoteliers, the minister is mistaken. Barceló hasn’t specified tourism workers. Rather, he has advocated a vaccination push for workers who have most public contact, such as supermarket checkout workers.

The Negueruela defence is that “all workers have the same rights, this must be made clear”. He thus rejected approaches in other countries and the views of the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation, which has called for priority to be given to the tourism sector in order to ensure that a second season is not lost; Barceló fears that 2021 could be as bad as 2020.

The minister has also said that if one takes away essential workers (health professionals, police, etc.) who do have priority, the programme will reach tourism workers through the process of age-group vaccination. This is because so many people of differing ages work in tourism.

He’s right of course, but then he’s missing the key point and is applying a misguided logic. The priority is not tourism workers, it is vaccination, full stop; and a hell of a lot quicker process, precisely because so many people do work in tourism. Negueruela is the tourism minister, he is the employment minister. He should be raising merry hell in demanding a far more rapid programme.