The tourism industry is looking to June for a real start to the season. | Archive

TW
4

The tourism industry in Mallorca is not holding out much hope for this coming Easter, the Balearic tourism minister, Iago Negueurela, having said in early December that tourism reactivation should occur from the end of March.

The industry view is that hopefully this will prove to be the case, but end of March (and therefore Easter) appears "somewhat utopian". The reality is that there aren't expectations until June. The Mallorca Hoteliers Federation says that the current controls are going to have to be endured for some time. Relaxing them too early "would be negative for the whole of the island's tourism industry". Another year like 2020 would be impossible. The controls and restrictions will have to stay in place at least until June, which is when the situation is likely to allow safe corridors with European countries.

Related news

Francesc Mulet, the president of the Aviba association of travel agents, stresses that "we won't have an Easter". "In order to have a tourist season, all the control measures will have to be applied during the first quarter of the year so that we can be 'clean' in May and June. What's at stake is the future of thousands of businesses, the Balearic economy and thousands of workers."

The president of the restaurants association with the Confederation of Balearic Business Associations, Alfonso Robledo, is clear that preserving the economy is key. "From here on, avoiding an increase in infections is an objective for the government, businesses and the people of the Balearics."

June has therefore become the target for the start of the season, and tour operators in the UK and Germany are confident that vaccination programmes will turn the current situation around. In Mallorca, the tourism industry knows that cutting the number of infections is key to promoting the island as a safe destination.