Iago Negueruela, minister for the economic model, tourism and employment. | IB3

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The Balearic government is forecasting that there will be a "very moderate start to the tourism season in August". Iago Negueruela, the tourism and employment minister, made this observation on Monday, adding that the expectation is for small increases in the following months (September and October at any rate).

The "hypothesis" regarding a start to the season in August, he noted, will depend on how the foreign tourism markets are, e.g. the UK and Germany.

The minister acknowledged that measures adopted by the national and regional governments are causing serious damage to the regional economy. He anticipates a 31% loss of GDP, equivalent to 9,270 million euros. As for jobs, he predicts a similar percentage loss - 30%, equating to 147,000.

Negueruela said that 18,000 ERTEs have been submitted; almost 160,000 workers will benefit from these. He thanked the efforts being made by 150 personnel who are processing these - to date, 4,200 have been fully processed. The minister also thanked the companies which had chosen ERTEs in order to avoid redundancies.

Meanwhile, remarks made by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in an interview with the German newspaper Bild have been described as a "devastating message" for the tourism industry. Von der Leyen advised EU citizens to wait before making plans for holidays, as "no one can at present give reliable forecasts for the months of July and August".