COVID-19 Foresight Spain: The entire food sector affected by a decrese in out-of-home food consumption and in tourism rates

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the most pressing challenges in our complicated food system.

• What can we do to better prepare for the ​transformation of the agrifood sector caused by coronavirus?
• How can we grasp the opportunities that come out of the crisis and improve our food?

Spain is one of the countries most impacted by the coronavirus, which has had a significant impact on food service and tourism, two areas making up a significant share of the national economy. These have been the most significant outputs in Spain:

Lockdowns and COVID-related limitations have placed the food service industry in a difficult situation.

Hospitality is especially important in southern Europe, as southern Europe’s food service industry is reliant on international tourism. In fact, the five largest countries in southern Europe are among the 15 most visited countries in the world, meaning that the survival of HORECA businesses is dependant on the recovery of tourism.

As the EU Commission stated, Strategic foresights will play a key role in helping future-proof EU policymaking by ensuring that short-term initiatives are grounded in a longer-term perspective. The EIT Food Strategic Foresight Analysis outlines how COVID-19 has affected the agrifood system in Europe, what the possible future scenarios are and how we can use the opportunities that come out of this pandemic.

Nonetheless, as in any crisis, there is always opportunity and thanks to the support of EIT Food, initiatives such a Los Salvacomidas that provided over 60,000 meals to children in Spain saw the light during the lockdown, and Spanish startups, like Feltwood, received substantial funding from EIT Food COVID-Bridge Fund.