Good morning to you all,

I would like to first say how sorry I am that some of you have needed to cancel your trip to Spain this summer. At Compare Properties Spain we very much hope you will be able to enjoy your holiday in the Autumn time. If this is not the case, then speaking on behalf of Spain, we hope to see you next year. We fully understand the UK´s decision to stop all visits to Spain impossing the quarantine on the return journey and by making some insurances invalid. However, I feel that as a Spanish citizen and watching both sides of the media I have to inform you of the real situation in Spain in relation to safety and sales.

The amount of cases with Covid in Spain at present are far less than the amount currently in the U.K. and furthermore, the current amount of cases in the U.K. at present are higher than in our worst time in Spain. It is interesting to watch the news in the U.K. when they outline the amount of cases in Spain, I believe they forget that we all have British television channels over here. I also believe that the media should show the information in relation to areas of the U.K. and Spain as in the Costa Blanca for example our percentage was low even in the worst highs in Spain in back in March. The locations with the highest percentages in Spain were all congregated around the busiest cities in Spain and not the coastal areas.

When the U.K. prime minister first announced that it was to impose the quarantine in Spain, I will admit I got a bit nervous by this decision as I worried about the tourism in Spain during our most prosperous month, August. However, I am pleased to inform you that the Costa Blanca North is completely fully booked up. The bars and restaurants are all full of Spanish nationals, French, German, Dutch and Polish clients. The Spanish tourism authority even encouraged France to add in a ferry from France to Menorca to allow tourists to enter this small island. Spain has learnt from this whole situation and re-invented itself and I don´t believe it ever carried all of its eggs in one basket in relation to tourism. However, those businesses that did concentrate on the British tourism only have had to re-invent their sales marketing. The city of Benidorm is affected badly and we feel for this location. However, the city of Benidorm has had a tourism experience of over 70 years. This started when the mayor chose to travel to Madrid on a moped to obtain permission from Franco to allow tourists to wear swimwear on the beach. Benidorm will find a solution and I am certain of this.

Property sales have been prosperous. Usually in August I take the month off and close the office for part of the month. This year I was unsure what to do due to Covid. We all decided in unity in May to keep the offices opened and this has brought in a large number of sales. May, June and July have shown record number in sales in Spain compared to other years for these three months. These are not sales reach notary, that record is higher due to the delay for the Covid in previous months, and a total different statistic. I am speaking only of sales where we have agreed to a sale and the sales contract is drawn up. The interesting fact is that the sales have been agreed with Spanish, French and Dutch resident clients. In relation to sales with British residents some have materialized and others have been put back to visiting in the Autumn time. All sales have two factors in common, our clients are either looking to re-locate to Spain (British, French and Dutch) and want a Villa of 3 Bedrooms plus OR alternatively, they want a Bungalow/semi-detached villa with a small garden and a communal pool in order to escape to if another lockdown appears. Spain has quickly turned into a safe haven for all nationalities which is contradictory to the information obtained on the British media. The irony of it all is that other nationalities are choosing to remain in Spain and not travel back to their home country and to stay here as long as possibly safe to do so.

I hope this email is useful to some of you, if I can clarify any further on the sales situation in Spain, please do ask me. In relation to safety, it is compulsory to wear a mask. If you enter a bar/restaurant you can remove your mask, however, if you go to the bathroom you need to re-apply the mask. In commercial centers and the street the masks are needed. At the beach/pool area you enter wearing the mask and once at your preferred location on the beach/pool area you can remove the mask. You swim without a mask on. All bars/restaurants are cleaner now than I have ever known them. Every 30 minutes toilets are cleaned and at every change of table this is desinfected thoroughly. You have to apply the desinfectant solution on entering any shop or premises on your hands, this is supplied by the commercial center. All trollies are desinfected prior to usage at supermarkets too. You are no longer allowed to meet and greet with an embrace nor the standard two kisses in Spain.

Finally, all that is left for me to say is that we miss our British clients and look forward to welcoming you in the Autumn if restrictions allow us to see you.

Kindest regards,

Johanna Whittaker