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* Hotel association brands UK move "totally illogical"
* Urges system of reciprocal testing instead
* Some Spanish regions have lower infection rate than UK
(Recasts with CEHAT proposal, quotes)
By Emma Pinedo and Nathan Allen
MADRID, July 27 (Reuters) - Spain's hard-hit hotels offered
on Monday to pay for foreign tourists to take coronavirus tests,
in an effort to lure back visitors worried by a fresh wave of
cases and put off by Britain's sudden imposition of a two-week
quarantine.
Britain on Saturday shocked hoteliers and holidaymakers with
an unexpected 14-day quarantine on people returning from Spain,
in a major blow to a tourist season already hanging on by a
thread.
"Not only is it unjust but it's also totally illogical and
lacking in rigour," Spain's main hotel association CEHAT said of
the quarantine.
Instead, the association proposed a system of reciprocal
testing across Europe that would provide greater safety for
travellers, workers and people who live in tourist destinations.
"We are prepared to bear this cost," CEHAT's president Jorge
Marichal said in a video posted on social media.
Since ending its nationwide lockdown a month ago, Spain has
been grappling with a rapid proliferation of new cases, with
daily infections approaching 1,000 by the end of last week.
However, with most new clusters concentrated in the
northeastern regions of Catalonia and Aragon, and with several
other regions having a lower infection ratio than Britain, the
blanket quarantine has been criticised as disproportionate.
"Are there not smarter, technological ways to face this
situation in a more focused way?" said Emilio Gallego, of
Spain's Hospitality Industry Association, which represents the
country's bars and restaurants.
Britain's The Sun newspaper said London was considering an
exemption for Spain's Balearic and Canary islands, where
infection rates are very low, after lobbying by the Madrid
government.
"We hope it will be today rather than tomorrow," Tourism
Minister Reyes Maroto said.
'A BADLY MANAGED OVERREACTION'
While Catalan leader Quim Torra warned that more
restrictions could be needed if the local outbreak continued to
expand, other regions such as Andalusia and Valencia felt
unfairly penalised.
"Our epidemiological data are better than the UK's,"
Valencian regional leader Ximo Puig told Cadena Ser radio. "I
don't understand why you would make a decision like this with
such a broad brushstroke."
Puig's counterpart in the Canary Islands, Angel Victor
Torres, said the shock to the local tourism sector could be
irreversible if Britons stopped coming.
Tour operators, airlines and hotel groups, already
struggling after the pandemic brought global air travel to a
virtual standstill, also hit back at the measure.
Budget carrier Ryanair's Chief Executive Michael
O'Leary derided the UK move as a "badly managed overreaction".
Melia Hotels and NH hotels shares dropped
5.2% and 3.5% respectively on Monday afternoon, while British
Airways parent company IAG was down 7%.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo
Additional reporting by Inti Landauro, Belén Carreño, Paola
Luelmo and Conor Humphries
Writing by Nathan Allen
Editing by Ingrid Melander and Gareth Jones)
