Half of the island's hotels may not open at all. | Gemma Andreu

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In Minorca, there are some hoteliers who are preparing to open on the first of May, the day when the tourism season officially starts. But the reality is such that they will not. The state of alarm in Spain will extend beyond 26 April, Prime Minister Sánchez has made this much clear, while there will not be any travel movement from the European tourism markets.

Two key tour operators - Jet2 and Tui - are not envisaging there being holiday packages until 17 June and 1 July respectively. Many in the Minorcan tourism sector believe these dates are optimistic and are working on an assumption that the season will be confined to three months - August to October - and that there may not be any foreign tourists. As and when there is a resumption, it is being said that at least half of the island's hotels won't open at all this summer.

In 2019, Minorca attracted 1.3 million tourists, 67% of whom were foreign, with the UK the largest single market.