Spanish PM says country will be open to foreign tourists in July

As Spain emerges from the coronavirus lockdown, the country is setting its sights on salvaging as much of its tourism industry as possible.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Saturday the country will reopen to overseas visitors starting July 2. He encouraged people to begin planning their summer vacations — foreign and domestic — though he said safety measures will be in place to protect both tourists and Spanish residents from infection. "Spain needs tourism, and tourism needs safety in both origin and destination," he said. "We will guarantee that tourists will not run any risks, nor will they bring any risk to our country."

Sánchez didn't divulge much information on the actual plans, but he did say Madrid and Spain's regional governments have been working together to bring tourism back for weeks.

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The prime minister also gave Spain's top professional soccer league, known as La Liga, permission to return June 8. There have been 234,824 confirmed coronavirus cases and 28,628 COVID-19 deaths in Spain, but the daily infection and fatality rates have steadily declined since the country went into a strict lockdown in March. Read more at The Guardian and ESPN.