The severe anticipated downturn in the sector is a key reason behind the IMF's forecast of an 8 per cent fall in Spanish GDP this year.
"We are getting ready for a return to mobility within Spain, and we have to accept that we won't be receiving international visitors this summer," Carlos Garrido, president of Spain's CEAV travel agencies confederation, said.
Pedro Sánchez, the Prime Minister, this week announced an exit strategy to bring the economy back to life after a strict lockdown that is in its seventh week, with just under 213,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 24,275 reported deaths so far.
However, even under what Salvador Illa, the Health Minister, described yesterday as an "optimistic vision", Spaniards will not be allowed to travel outside their own province or island for leisure until at least the end of June, with bars, restaurants and museums only allowed to start opening to limited numbers of patrons from May 11.
"If the tourism sector does not open until Christmas, there will be no tourism sector to open," said Elías Bendodo, spokesman for Andalusia's local government, pointing out that the region, home to resorts such as Marbella and Torremolinos, remained relatively unscathed by Covid-19 and is ready to start doing business.
Bar owners and restaurateurs are also sceptical about a plan that only allows them to open 30 per cent of outdoor terrace seating in the first fortnightly phase, followed by a second period in which a third of indoor table space can be occupied before reaching 50 per cent capacity in mid-June.
"It's a joke. Phase one is completely unviable. Anyone with a little economic sense knows that you cannot cover overheads with 30 per cent turnover," said Emilio Gallego, secretary general of the CEHE hospitality sector association.
Gallego has calculated that around 40,000 bars, 15 per cent of all such establishments in Spain, will not be able to reopen after the lockdown, leading to the loss of more than 200,000 jobs.
Garrido said officials from the sector and Spain's regional administrations were working round the clock to draw up hygiene and safety protocols in 22 sub-sectors of the tourism industry, from travel agencies to camp sites and hotels.
He is also confident that Spain's varied offering of mountains, beaches, islands and cultural tourism will attract larger numbers of Spaniards to explore their own country this summer.
Sandra López, a 39-year-old IT worker for local government in Madrid, has visited 20 countries outside Spain in the past five years, including Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Turkey, Cuba and Brazil.
But this year she is thinking about splitting a month's summer holiday between her small family village in Extremadura and Mediterranean destinations such as Valencia, Murcia or the Balearics.
"Spain is one of the best countries in the world for tourism. I love travelling in my own country, even though usually it's something my partner and I do for short breaks," López said.
VP Plaza de España Design hotel in Madrid is drawing up its plans to become Spain's first "Covid free" destination, where guests will have to take a test for the virus.
The five-star hotel's measures also include vacuum packaging for items such as the TV remote controls, and meals being served in a non-contact manner with guests following circuits to collect their orders.
