Tourism minister Iago Negueruela in parliament on Tuesday.

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Tourism minister Iago Negueruela told the Balearic parliament on Tuesday that he would be holding a meeting with two senior directors from Tui later in the day. The aim would be to set common goals for reestablishing tourism from Germany.

With Germany's tourism commissioner Thomas Bareiss having said that it is unlikely that Germans will be able to travel to Spain in the near future, Negueruela stressed that decisions on travel will rest with each European state. The Tui directors with whom he would be speaking, he added, are "in permanent contact" with the German government.

The minister emphasised that a reactivation of tourism must be within a "security framework", noting that the Balearics have a "better scenario" (in terms of coronavirus) than other parts of Spain. He explained that the government will be working with the Spanish Institute for Tourism Quality in applying a "major agreement" for protecting tourism.

From the opposition parties there were questions regarding an approximate idea as to when establishments can start to reopen and under what protocols; testing at ports and airports; the tourist tax (and its possible suspension). The minister confined himself to observing that a plan for de-escalation as it affects tourism is a matter for the whole government, led by the health ministry, and not for the tourism ministry alone.

On the tourist tax he has previously stated there is no intention to suspend it but that there will be an adjustment in the system of tax assessment - how hoteliers and others pay revenues from the tax to the government.