In last week’s golf article we provided information in respect of the possible closure of golf courses as a result of the ever changing situation in respect of the Covid-19 virus and at that time none of the golf courses were forecasting closure.
Unfortunately within one week the Valencian Community increased from 3 to 29 the number of municipalities locked down with rates of infection in excess of 1000 per 100,000 inhabitants so things very much took a turn for the worse.
With such bad numbers the golfing industry via the Spanish Golf Federation and Golf Course Association were unable to make a case for keeping the courses open as a source of open-air exercise played in small numbers and along with all other sports facilities are now closed until at least the 3rd February 2021 and I wouldn’t bet against this being extended given the very slow roll out of vaccines in Spain which is the only real way out of this crisis.
To make matter worse the Spanish President has stated that there will be no tourist visitors to Spain before the end of the summer (by when 70% of the Spanish population should be vaccinated) which will be devastating to the tourism industry here in Spain including all the bars, restaurants, shops, hotels and the golf industry and tens of thousands of jobs will be lost and in the long term making this part of Spain less appealing to possible tourist visitors and in turn this could result in the sale of many homes as people return back to their countries of origin.
To make matter worse the Spanish Government give little assistance to the many self-employed business owners offering only loans or deferrals on autonomo payments or some taxes BUT none of this will see business owners last until after the summer is over.
There are absolutely no positives to be taken in the current situation and to think that we thought 2020 was bad enough.