Spain: Leisure Attractions on the Starting Blocks to Reopen

As one of the European countries most affected by the Corona pandemic, Spain had completely shut down large parts of its economy in March and people were under confinement for weeks in order to reduce the number of new infections. These comprehensive measures contributed significantly to flattening the curve. In course of the now stable development, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday to open the borders for international travel from the Schengen countries (except Portugal) from 21^st June (instead of early July as announced earlier).

Just in time for the cautious “revival” of the tourism sector, leisure parks and attractions in Spain are preparing for their reopening. As one of the largest theme park resorts in the country, PortAventura World located in the Catalan province of Tarragona is planning to reopen PortAventura Park, Ferrari Land and its associated hotels on 8^th July. The Caribe Aquatic water park will remain closed for the time being. The total visitor capacity of the respective facilities will be reduced to 30 percent of their regular maximum capacity, tickets will be sold online. In the entrance areas to the parks and in the hotels there will be temperature checks for guests to identify possible ill cases. All points of sale in the parks will offer the possibility of contactless payment; furthermore the wearing of protective face masks will be obligatory everywhere in the resort.

In Benidorm (community of Valencia), the Aqualandia water park and the Mundomar sea animal park will welcome back guests as of 3^rd July. Both facilities will operate at 35 percent of the regular guest capacity. In Mundomar, visitors will be required to wear facemasks. Here, guests will also receive differently colored wristbands associated with fixed time slots to attend the park’s shows. The show program will be reduced to entertainment and education offerings excluding the direct contact between visitors and animals in order to ensure a high protection level for the animals as well. In addition, the general rules of hygiene and social distancing will apply.

The Parques Reunidos-operated attractions Parque de Atracciones, Parque Warner and Parque Warner Beach (all based in Madrid) will open their gates for visitors again as of 1^st July.

Our upcoming magazine issue EAP 4/2020 (July/August) will provide you with a special feature about products and solutions for safe park operations during Covid-19 times. (eap)