Spain, in national mourning for ten days from next Tuesday

USPA NEWS - Spain will keep official mourning for its deceased due to the Coronavirus for ten days from next Tuesday. That mourning will be completed with a great State funeral to be presided over by the Kings of Spain, without the date being known yet. This was announced this Saturday by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, in a television appearance with a subsequent press conference, in which he also announced the reopening of the country for international tourism from July and the resumption of the soccer league from next Tuesday, June 8.

The time to pay tribute to the victims of COVID-19 has arrived. The Government will decree ten days of official mourning on Tuesday, once all of Spain is at least in phase 1 of the de-escalation. There will also be a great State funeral presided over by the Kings of Spain, still undated. The Spanish Government wants to remember the people killed by Coronavirus in this way and to convey the love of the Spaniards to their families.

What does have a date is the revival of tourism. The main sector of the Spanish economy will return to activity from June 22. On that date, Spaniards will be able to travel within the country to spend their holidays, although international tourists will have to wait until July to enter Spain. "There will be a tourist season this year," announced Pedro Sánchez. "We intend to guarantee the reactivation of national tourism in this same summer season," added the Prime Minister, before affirming that "foreign tourists can now also plan their vacations in our country. Spain has been waiting for you in July in security conditions.“

"All the tourist establishments, the bars and restaurants, the beach and inland destinations, which are prepared from today to resume their activity in a few days" and "which are ready to welcome the Spaniards who want to enjoy this vacation in any of the formidable destinations that our geography offers," said the Prime Minister, who also assured that Spain will guarantee the safety of visitors and will ensure that opening the doors does not mean that new cases of Coronavirus arrive: "Spain needs tourism and security at origin and destination, so we will ensure that tourists do not run any risk or bring it to our country," he explained.

The soccer returns

Pedro Sánchez also announced that the soccer league will resume from June 8. From that date, the competitions will resume, although the matches will probably be played without an audience in the stands. Professional soccer contributes 1.37% of GDP to the country's wealth, making the revival of competitions an economic, as well as a sociological, issue. Clubs like Real Madrid or Barcelona move billions of euros and are followed by hundreds of millions of fans around the world.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, the Spanish League suspended competitions in all categories and training, which resumed a week ago. The problem now is the schedule: not only will national competitions have to find dates to play matches before September, but UEFA will soon resume European competitions and make place for the pending finals.