Turisme Comunitat Valenciana has sent to town councils with beachesBoth coastal and continental, from the Valencian Community a document so that destinations can open these areas with the maximum safety conditions and guarantees for users.
Previously, the autonomous secretary of Turisme, Francesc Colomer, presented this document at the Generalitat's emergency coordination meeting on coronaviruses.
The meeting, held by videoconference, has been chaired by the Minister of Justice, Interior and Public Administration, Gabriela Bravo, and also the Minister of Territory, Arcadi Spain, and the Minister of Innovation, Carolina Pascual, as well as the regional secretary de Turisme, Francesc Colomer.
During this meeting the information has been shared, which has been prepared with the collaboration of all the departments of the Generalitat, and the different ministries with powers in this area, as well as with other organizations such as the Valencian Federation of Municipalities and Provinces .
The guide intends to complete and specify, taking into account the singularities of the Valencian coastline, the national measures approved by the central government in the 'Protocol of Measures for the reduction of hygiene-health risks compared to COVID-19 for beaches'.
From Turisme Comunitat Valenciana it has been valued that the document includes actions that give answers to the territorial peculiarities of the Community, in addition to reinforcing the will to differentiate itself by quality, sustainability and hospitality and, at a time like the present, by the security.
Thus, based on the mandatory requirements that it establishes, it provides a series of proposals that facilitate the use of the beach in safe conditions for users and control and monitoring for managers.
The objective is to help municipalities to open their beaches with the maximum guarantees and it shows that, according to all the reports that have been accessed, the spread of COVID-19 through seawater and Sand is relatively small so, applying the corresponding measures, "the beaches are safe spaces in this uncertain time," according to Colomer.
In the process of preparing this guide, different scientific agents, technical specialists in process management and its application to the beaches have participated together with Turisme CV, as well as heads of various departments of the Consell with competencies that affect the beaches: the Conselleria de Universal Health and Public Health, the Valencian Agency for Safety and Emergency Response, the Valencian Institute for Safety and Health at Work, the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Public Works and mobility and the Ministry of Justice, Interior and Public Administration; in addition to the Government Delegation.
The document 'Safe Beaches' brings together organizational aspects regarding the management of beaches, both maritime and continental, such as how to configure the management body, basic tasks and responsibilities, suggestions for security measures to maintain social distance.
From TCV it has been explained that "in most cases, the most complex recommendations are accompanied by proposals with their possible risks and the reinforcing measures that would help their implementation" and it has been emphasized that "this is a document complete, broad, highly agreed with multiple agents and departments and with a practical approach to demonstrate that we can be a Mediterranean alive and safe also on our beaches ".
Turisme Comunitat Valenciana has organized for these days different webinars for coastal beaches, structured by provinces, and also a specific one for continental beaches, where they can answer all the questions that, from a practical and technical level, may arise from the municipalities.
Main proposals of the guide
Through this guide, beach management entities (town councils) are informed of different suggestions to ensure a safe beach. In this line, the document recommends governance through a managing entity of each beach, in addition to the creation of a Safety Committee on each beach, with a maximum representative with authority in charge of coordinating the services involved. This body will be responsible for making security decisions and will be made up of representatives from all the departments considered strategic. Likewise, it will be responsible for defining the strategy to follow and the design of a Contingency Plan.
It should be noted that the Contingency Plan will be based on three axes: security of gauging and access; complementary services and clear and concise transmission of information.
In addition, the 'Safe Beaches' guide urges the use of a complementary flag or badge that warns of the need to close a beach in its entirety immediately in a high-risk situation.
It also introduces safety recommendations to maintain social distancing standards on beaches. To do this, it urges the beaches to control the capacity, providing formulas to quantify it in each case.
At the same time, it highlights the need to control access to the beaches and strengthen vigilance for the correct compliance with the code of conduct by the user. Regarding accesses, it offers recommendations to delimit areas, both in the sand and in the water, or signaling measures or cleaning and fragmentation of schedules or sectors, among others.
It should be remembered that Turisme, in collaboration with the Ministry of Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society and the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Public Works and Mobility is working on the design of a web platform accessible from mobile devices of any type and operating system for provide updated information on the degree of occupation of the beaches.
The Generalitat's guide to enjoying safe beaches also dedicates a chapter about sanitary and hygienic services and leisure and sports, where it recommends daily cleaning of the sand, discouraging its disinfection, increasing the frequency of tests on the sand, among other practical recommendations.
In the case of sanitary mobile toilet cabins and, whenever feasible, it is suggested to avoid their installation (especially those located in the sandbank on the maritime beaches) in order to, among others, protect the environment with respect to the cleaning measures adopted.
Regarding showers and footbaths, it is recommended that they come into operation whenever conditions relating to social distancing, cleaning and disinfection of the facilities can be guaranteed, and advises the managing bodies to take some measure to avoid crowds in these facilities in rush hours.
In addition, this guide recommends the removal of all litter bins, establishing a disposal point that is made known to the user or installed at the beach entrances.
Regarding leisure and sports services, it is recommended that sunbeds and umbrellas be distributed ensuring the social security distance between users and groups, and the axes of the umbrellas should be installed at distances equal to or greater than 4 meters.
Turisme CV recommends the closure of children's games and bio-healthy areas of the beaches until more advanced stages.
Finally, it incorporates as an annex some verification sheets for the preparation of a Contingency Plan, facilitating the work of safeguarding the safety of users by the municipalities.
