! Murcia Today – How will the ban on Russian airspace affect the Spanish economy?

Tourism, agriculture and the textile sector are all expected to be affected in Spain

On Sunday, February 27, Spain announced it would close its airspace to Russia, and a day later Putin retaliated by banning Spanish planes from its skies. Fortunately, the impact of this on the Spanish tourism sector will be minimal, since before the pandemic, air traffic between the two countries represented barely 1% of the total.

“When there is a war, in many cases, consumers think twice before booking. It is still very early days, but it is to be expected that if the war continues, it will have an impact on the transport demand and the long-awaited recovery,” Javier Gandara, president of the Airline Association (ALA) predicts.

With the cessation of flights, tourism will inevitably be affected. This sector accounted for more than 10% of national GDP in Spain before the pandemic, and although the number of Russian travelers is far from comparable to that of the British and Germans, their absence will be a serious blow this summer.

“The cancellation of flights fundamentally affects Barcelona, ​​Malaga, Valencia, Alicante and Madrid”, explained Bartomeu Deyá, vice-dean of the Faculty of Tourism of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), with almost half of the flights to Russia. in 2019 taking off from Barcelona-El Prat aerodrome.

In terms of exports, Spain is set to take a hit in sectors such as textiles and jewellery, since almost 95% of international traffic to Russia is by air and in 2020 Spain sold for $239 million worth of textiles and accessories to Russia.

Image: Flight Radar 24