I have visited numerous bars, restaurants and hotels this summer and I would like to give their staff a big round of applause. Under very difficult circumstances they still managed to maintain quality service with a smile.

It is probably hotels who have had the hardest time. Imagine if all of a sudden your faithful buffet service breakfast, lunch and dinner disappeared as a result of new regulations introduced for the coronavirus. Some hotels have opted to give you a menu and bring the food straight to your table while others continued with the buffet with staff “helping yourself.” Making sure that guests wore masks around hotel grounds was not easy task, either.

Of course bars and restaurants have also had their fair share of problems with government guidelines on terraces and social distancing between tables. In some cases the size of their terraces were reduced so much that they had little option but to close because it was not profitable to stay open. It has certainly been a summer season to forget and the vast majority of hotels will be closing their doors this weekend along with hundreds of restaurants and bars. Obviously, they are not closing because they want to....they are closing because there is no trade. I think two important lessons have been learnt this season; firstly and it is rather obvious this island needs tourists like it needs the sun. The second is also very important without the dedicated hotel staff there is no tourism industry.