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Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 10:00
- We speak to a Barcelona promoter about the impact this could have on the scene.
Spain will not welcome mass international tourism until the end of summer 2021, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez predicted last week.
In a meeting with the Executive Council Of The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Madrid, Sánchez said that 70 percent of the Spanish population would have to be vaccinated before the country could reopen for visits, Euro Weekly News reports.
"Only mass vaccination will open the way to the normality we want," said Sánchez, who stressed this would be more likely towards the end of this summer.
The news will come as a blow to Spanish festivals with a large international following. Both Primavera Sound and Sonár postponed their 2020 editions after restrictions on large-scale events were imposed following the outbreak of Covid-19.
But it's not just major festivals that will be affected. Smaller venues and promoters also rely on tourism, especially in major dance music hubs such as Madrid, Ibiza and Barcelona.
"Barcelona is a very beautiful city that naturally attracts tourism," Paolo Ferrara and Lorenzo Raganzini, cofounders of techno party HEX, told Resident Advisor. "Some of these people come to discover the cultural side of the city. So this new measure will just directly affect and maybe even kill the few organisations dedicated to entertainment still alive."
They add: "We hope that the government will soon realise how fundamental this side of the city is, and how much the lack of direct help on their part (economically and measures-wise) is writing a non-bright future for us all."
Last month, Primavera funded a study to show how same-day Covid-19 testing could facilitate a return to indoor music events.
Spain was the second most-visited country in the world 2019, with an estimated 83 million tourists. This figure fell by more than 75 percent in 2020 to fewer than 20 million.
Photo credit: Luismi Sánchez
This story has been updated to reflect that Sánchez's comments were about mass tourism. Spain does not plan to shut its borders.