In Alcudia, the beach services will be operational from today, but there is minimal activity, the Alcudia Garden having bravely been open for a few weeks now. There is, as elsewhere on the island, much talk about the UK's May 17 date and the possibility of Mallorca being on the 'green list'. Much talk, but also much scepticism: yea, yea, we've heard it all before.
For Puerto Pollensa, where the hotel stock is lower than in the Alcudia Bay resorts, the UK percentage of the tourist market is higher. It is of vital importance. Isabel Sastre of the hoteliers association says that May 17 is an optimistic date and that some hotels are planning on opening then. Only planning, as they can't be certain about the UK decision or indeed what it will prompt.
Sastre adds that the feedback they are getting is good and that people want to travel, but there is the complication posed by Jet2 having put operations on hold until June 23. This may change if there is greater clarity from the UK government, but right now the view is that the season in Puerto Pollensa is unlikely to get going until July.
What tourism there is at present is mostly German. I don't know how reports emerge of Germans being barred from travel until June, when this is simply untrue. Some flights coming into Son Sant Joan from Frankfurt and other airports are full, the ticket prices very low; the PCR test can typically cost three times more than the ticket, an absurd state of affairs.
Meanwhile, the Council of Mallorca has been continuing its round of visits to tourist municipalities. The latest stop has been Santa Margalida. A "united front" for reactivating tourism was how it was pitched, the president of the Council, Catalina Cladera, saying earlier this week that "Can Picafort is one of the main tourist areas on the island, and with the town hall we have evaluated the situation and forecasts and actions that all administrations have started in relation to social and economic reactivation."
Yea, yea, as they say. The reactivation depends on one thing, and one thing alone - tourists, and not in dribs and drabs. Maybe the much heralded EU certificate, seemingly now to be known as the EU Covid-19 certificate and not the digital green certificate, will genuinely mean reactivation.
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I lost over half my guesthouse bookings for the summer to cancellations last week when it was announced Spain would require mask wearing at all times in the summer, even on the beach. It's so stupid, vaccinated visitors will be welcomed everywhere - what does Spain gain by keeping these useless mask rules in place? It's like a punch in the gut.
Doesn't matter if Boris says Yes on May 17th. Sanchez has already said No until June.