How we will go to the beach in summer: reserve with the mobile, signposted spaces or age division
Canet d'en Berenguer (Valencia), Sanxenxo (Pontevedra), Ribamontán al Mar (Cantabria) and Lloret de Mar (Gerona) advance their proposals for the beaches this summer pending a national protocol
The Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality (ICTE) in coordination with the Secretary of State for Tourism, commissioned a few days ago the preparation of a scientific report to be carried out by the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) to determine the measures that will have to be taken in the area of beaches and swimming pools in Spain this summer. However, some city councils have already put forward their own proposals. Here are four examples.
Canet d'en Berenguer, Valencia
The Valencian town of Canet d'en Berenguer has detailed some of the proposals to be able to maintain the safety distance on a 1,000-meter-long beach, among which it has highlighted the limitation of capacity to about 5,000 people per day , which will be distributed in shifts morning and afternoon, as well as a division by four sectors of 250 meters.
"It is going to be a very drastic reduction because we have a beach that can be visited by about 10,000 visitors, including 22,000 at the peak of influx in August, and now the context is changing that will give a different vision of the beach," said its mayor. , Pere Antoni, who has also regretted that sociability with the rest of the bathers will vary because it will be a "more corseted" environment.
In the proposed shift distribution, there will be a shift in the morning and another in the afternoon in which between 2,000 and 2,500 people will be allowed for each schedule, with a difference of two hours to allow for a maintenance and disinfection service.
Before accessing the beach of Canet d'en Berenguer, users will have to make a reservation for a physical space through an application on their mobile phone and they will be assigned a plot in the extension of the sand, a space that will be adapted number of people in the family unit.
This delimitation of the space will be done with a kind of "tapestry or net" where the limits of each plot will be marked, as well as a corridor space that may allow a transit of bathers while respecting the social distancing of two meters.
"The bather, when arriving at the beach on his turn, will have to show a QR code with the reservation and there they will indicate the space that you can use, until your time is up," said Antoni.
Likewise, the access walkways to the beach will be differentiated between the entry and exit walkways to avoid crowds of people. As on the shore, where a larger space will be enabled so that people can walk in both directions.
Regarding the possibility of monitoring the bathroom in sea water , the first mayor has assured that it will be "very complicated" and has asked citizens for responsibility and "conscience" to respect the safety distance in the spread of the coronavirus.
Sanxenxo, Pontevedra
The Sanxenxo City Council will parcel out its urban beaches, including the most popular in the municipality, the Silgar sandbank , so that after its reopening the social distance recommended by the experts is respected and there is the "maximum" health security.
Silgar beach will be divided into five sectors and will have 780 squares , as explained by the mayor of Sanxenxo, Telmo Martín.
This measure will mean that the capacity of the sandy area, located in the center of the municipality, ranges between 1,560 and 2,340 people, which is up to 50% less than in previous years .
Each of these sectors, which will have different colors so that users can locate their plot, will have a bather service staff.
Each area will be limited to a space of 3x3 meters which, depending on the number of people who go to the beach together, can be expanded up to four plots together.
They will be made up of wooden stakes stuck in the sand and will be joined by ropes to be able to reposition them easily, the Sanxenxo councilor has detailed.
Ribamontán al Mar, Cantabria
The Ribamontán al Mar City Council does not have any limitation on beaches. "Fortunately, this City Council has large stretches of beach, so there is no provision for any restriction on its access, without prejudice to enforcing the regulations issued in relation to distances between people," the mayor of municipality, Francisco Asón.
Lloret de Mar, Gerona
Lloret de Mar (Gerona), one of the main tourist destinations in Spain and second in Catalonia, this summer will divide its two main beaches into three sectors of groups of the elderly, families and adults without children, all with limited capacity, as explained its mayor, Jaume Dulsat. The measure will be applied to the beaches of Lloret and Fenals , the busiest, and there will be controls to access each of these spaces, while the rest of the coastline will also have limited capacity, but without establishing that separation by groups.
