On occasion, certain media sources publish news articles without checking their facts first, which produces regrettable “Fake News”. Sadly, both The Telegraph and Sky News published an article on Friday stating that Spain will not be receiving tourists until after the summer. This is simply not correct; Spain will welcome tourists well before the summer of 2021.
This whole misunderstanding is based on a mistranslation of a sentence uttered by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during a recent speech in front of the Congress in Madrid. Pedro Sanchez is quoted as follows:
“Vamos a avanzar con la vacunación al mayor ritmo posible hasta alcanzar el 70 % de la población al final del verano", lo que, a su juicio, permitirá a España "estar mejor preparada para recibir a los turistas”
Directly translated into English:
“We will continue with the vaccination campaign at the highest possible speed until we reach 70% of the population by the end of the summer”, which according to him “will allow Spain to be better prepared to receive tourists.”
Euro Weekly News reported the news as: "Spain Won't Welcome Tourists Until The End Of The Summer", which through chinese-whisper effect ended up with both The Telegraph and Sky News to publish the story erroneously.
Many companies that make a living from tourism in Spain have expressed great concern (and rightly so) about these articles. It is more than ever important for tourists to come back to Spain as soon as possible. Many businesses are directly threatened with closure due to lack of income from the tourists. These types of articles obviously do very little to help the situation.
Several organizations have even asked the Prime Minister to clarify his words to avoid any misunderstanding. As a result, Spain's Minister of Tourism, Ms Maroto, reaffirmed in an interview with The Telegraph that Spain will indeed be in a position to welcome tourists before the summer of 2021.
