MAJORCA has predicted that Brits could still return to the island for the holiday season this year despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Tourism leaders have vowed “not to throw in the towel” despite fears of holidaymakers staying away until 2021.
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Similar to other holiday hotspots in Spain, they anticipate tourists will be allowed “back in” in three different phases in order to adjust to the aftermath of the pandemic.
To test the waters, the revival will start with local holidaymakers, followed by national and then international, which will include the Brits.
No timescale has been set by the Spanish Government because the current State of Emergency runs until April 26 but is to be extended today until May 9.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says the winding-down process could start towards the end of May, but again in phases.
It’s estimated that the Balearics, which include Majorca and Ibiza, have already lost €905m (£795m) in revenue in the five weeks of the State of Emergency, with half attributed to the hotel and restaurant trade.
The Spanish Government believes there is still a chance for some sort of summer season in whatever format and Majorca’s governing council agrees.
Island president Catalina Cladera said: “We are not ending this year’s tourist season. Whatever we can safely reactivate, we will.
“As soon as we can, we must move to the contingency phase and live with the pandemic, always in a safe way, because people’s health is essential, as well as saving the productive fabric and jobs.”
Majorca, like the Canary Islands, wants to be first in line when resorts are able to reopen but major adaptations will need to be made to all aspects related to holidays to take into account self-distancing, from travel from the airports to the hotels themselves.
Catalina added: “It is clear that in the way we travel there will be one before and one after the crisis, as in 9/11.”
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“We will have to adapt the way we travel and we must prepare our destination in this new environment, making it more secure, promoting innovation and technology, and adapting to new protection measures in hotels, restaurants, shops, transport and way of traveling.”
“We cannot forget that we have always been Mallorca, our strength has not changed. We are now fighting to overcome the global health crisis but our natural environment and the potential of the tourism sector remain there.”
Despite this, officials are conflicted on when British tourists will be able to return.
Tourism minister Iago Negueruela contradicted this, warning tourism activity could start ‘minimally’ in August.
However, he hinted that certain countries, including the UK, which took longer to take measures to restrict the spread of the coronavirus, will face a Balearics ban for longer.
He told local media: “There are countries like the United Kingdom that have taken too long to adopt containment measures and that also puts us in a different situation with respect to them.”
Spanish airports also anticipate reopening on a phases basis, with national traffic first, then European and then international.
Since March, traffic at Spanish airports has suffered a drop of 59.3 per cent in the number of passengers (8.1 million).
Plans are already being made for 46 Spanish airports, to include queue management, terminal disinfection, the supply of masks, gloves and disinfecting gels, control of the capacity of shops and restaurants and distances between passengers. Again, no timescale has been set.
Last week, Spain’s Minister of Labour Yolanda Diaz said she did not expect tourism to “get back to normal” until the end of 2020.
Spain’s death toll from coronavirus has already surpassed 21,000.
Holidays to Tenerife may take a little longer to return.
Regional government chiefs say the plan is to open hotels in July or August for Spanish holidaymakers before receiving foreign tourists in autumn.
Insisting the road back to recovery had to be graduated and “international tourism” would be phase three, Canary Islands’ president Angel Victor Torres told Spanish daily El Mundo: “That way, in October, November or December, which are good months in the Canary Islands, we can begin to receive tourists from other countries.”
