The Legal Impacts of COVID-19 in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry

8 security and maintenance services of the indicated establishments are exempt from this suspension. The closure of these establishments will take place when there are no customers to attend and, in any case, within a maximum period of seven calendar days from the effective date of the regulation that was the same day of its publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE), 19 March 2020. Regarding the calculation of the deadlines, it is necessary to pay attention to what is indicated in Article 5 of the Civil Code 25 . The problem arises with subjects who are housed in the indicated establishments for an extended period: people who “live” in hotels or campsites, for example. For these people, the establishment is their habitual residence and, as such, they must comply with the mandatory confinement due to the decreed state of alarm 26 . This possibility is contemplated, and it is indicated that the establishments contemplated in Order SND/257/2020 are allowed to open to the customers who were already guests when the state of alarm was declared, and they may remain open on a stable and seasonal basis. This will require the establishments to have adequate infrastructure for the guests to be able to carry out the essential activities indicated in Royal Decree No. 463/2020. Even though these establishments are open, they are not allowed to admit new customers, until the end of the suspension contemplated in Order SND/257/2020. This Order is applicable to the entire national territory, however, some questions are raised, considering that the regulation of tourist accommodation is profuse and it is 25 This article provides that: “1. Unless otherwise provided, for periods stated in number of days, counting from a particular date, the latter shall be excluded from the calculation, which shall begin on the following day; and periods set in number of months or years shall be calculated from date to date. Where on the month of expiration date there should be no date equivalent to the initial date of the period, the period shall be deemed to expire on the last day of the month; 2. Calculation of periods according to civil law shall not exclude non-business days.” (“Siempre que no se establezca otra cosa, en los plazos señalados por días, a contar de uno determinado, quedará éste excluido del cómputo, el cual deberá empezar en el día siguiente; y si los plazos estuviesen fijados por meses o años se computarán de fecha a fecha. Cuando en el mes del vencimiento no hubiere día equivalente al inicial del cómputo, se entenderá que el plazo expira el último del mes; 2. En el cómputo civil de los plazos no se excluyen los días inhábiles”). 26 B AELO Á LVAREZ , M. y D ÍAZ -B AUTISTA C REMADES , A., “Estado de alarma como medida de “contención social” ante el COVID-19”, Diario La Ley No. 9592, 2020.