(TAN): Hotel owners on the Canary Islands are discussing quick Covid-19 testing facilities for tourists with the regional and national authorities, media reports said.
Hoteliers believe such measures may save at least part of the winter tourism, after a poor summer across Spain.
The Canary Islands, informally known as the Canaries, are a Spanish archipelago. The area saw a sharp drop in tourism amid worries over the Covid-19 pandemic, a UK quarantine and travel warnings from Germany. Officials hope quick testing on arrival and departure could help revive the situation.
[ALSO READ: Germany to lift ban on non-essential travel outside EU from October 1]
“There are tests that are faster and much cheaper than PCRs,” a spokeswoman of the regional government tourist department told Reuters, referring to the widely used PCR laboratory tests.
Hotel owners hope results in less than 15 minutes will help lure tourists back.
“It will take some time until it becomes a reality, so we are not going to save all the winter season, which begins on November 1, but at least a part of it,” said Juan Pablo Gonzalez, manager of Asotel, an association of more than 250 hotels in the Tenerife region, Reuters reported. Only a third of the hotels in this region are still open, he added.
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