Spain shuts down all its hotels, campgrounds, and RV parks in an attempt to stave off the spread of the coronavirus

• On Thursday, Spain ordered all of its hotels, camping sites, and other "tourist accommodating" lodgings to close as it struggles to contain the country's coronavirus outbreak.
• Spain has been on lockdown since March 14 after the nation saw a surge in cases of the novel coronavirus.
• Spain has 20,412 reported cases of the virus and 1,043 deaths so far, according to the latest estimates.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Spain announced on Thursday that all of its hotels and other temporary accommodations will be closed for at least seven days, as the country fights to contain the coronavirus pandemic. As of the latest available estimates, Spain has over 20,000 reported cases of COVID-19 and over 1,000 deaths.

"Tourist accommodations have been suspended," read a notice on the website for Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE), Spain's official state gazette, according to an internal Business Insider translation. "[The state has] established the closing of all hotels and similar accommodations, tourist lodgings and other short-stay accommodations, camping sites, RV parking sites, and other similar establishments, located anywhere within the national territory."

The notice also said that long-stay accommodations are allowed to stay open, as long as occupants in them follow the rules of Spain's nationwide coronavirus lockdown. On March 14, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced Spain would be entering a lockdown, after seeing a surge in cases of the coronavirus, following the path of Italy, which is the most affected country in Europe. The coronavirus death toll in Italy bypassed that of China on Thursday.

Shortly after Spain's prime minister announced these new measures, it was revealed that his wife, Begona Gomez, had tested positive for the virus. As Business Insider previously reported, Spanish citizens have been banned from leaving their homes except to buy necessary supplies. Museums and other public spaces have closed as well.

Spain is the second-most visited country in the world and saw a record 83.7 million tourists last year, an all-time high for the nation. On January 20, Industry and Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto said she was "optimistic" for what 2020 would bring.