Recovery on hold

New restrictions are expected to be announced in Germany on Monday which could mean that the initial joy over the arrival of the first German tourists this weekend goes rather flat.

The European Union unveiled the vaccine passport but the ceremony was rather hijacked by some member states calling fore more vaccines and the AstraZeneca jab being put on ice for a few days.

And to make matters worse it now appears that it will be a question of EU nationals first for the passport and the others will have to wait and that includes Britain. Hopes that the passport could reopen travel sooner rather than later have rather been dashed.

The Balearics are in a difficult situation; the tourist industry is demanding action but so is the medical profession who believe that opening up too soon will just lead to another lockdown.

Britain will decide on April 12 whether international travel can go ahead this summer. It could be said that Britain is in a better position; millions of people have been vaccinated but I doubt that the British government would risk a new wave by allowing travel to takeoff when the Covid situation is still “complicated.”

At the moment it is a case of wait-and-see and the green shoots of recovery are still growing but at a slower rate. I do believe that Mallorca will welcome some tourists this year but far fewer than many had thought.

We are not out of the woods yet and perhaps it is better to be cautious than over optimistic.