It's D-Day for Majorca this week; the British have been given the green light to travel and Majorca is expected to be one of their top destinations. There is a degree of optimism in the air around the island at the moment with forecasts of a massive tourism invasion in the coming weeks. I do not want to spoil the party but anyone who believes that we are going to have a summer season anything like last year is deeply mistaken, I am afraid to say. Now, even a single tourist is better than nothing but before the season I think it is best to label summer´2020 as the season forget and we should concentrate on summer´2021.
The tourist industry and the local authorities could be using these months as an opportunity to improve and upgrade holiday resorts. Even the beaches. It would also be a way of ploughing money back into the local economy. As the industry will be functioning below normal levels perhaps the time has come to have a long discussion about the sort of tourist Majorca wants.
Before the coronavirus struck, the local authorities had introduced legislation to curb all inclusive alcoholic drinks and they also had the cruise industry in their sights. What summer 2020 will underline though is how important tourism is for the local economy. Majorca is going to learn this the hard way this year, I doubt we will ever see graffiti calling on tourists to go home ever again. 2020 will be the tourist watershed year; it will be a season to forget but at the same time it will be beneficial.