MALLORCA´S tourist industry is in a panic and quite rightly so. It is still unclear whether we will have a holiday season at all this year. Mallorca has two options; sit back and hope that everything will be alright on the night or go on the offensive.
Granted there isn´t too much the local authorities can do but they should be promoting the Balearics across the board in Britain and Germany. “Once it is safe to travel we hope to welcome you to Mallorca...” is the message which would-be British and German tourists should be receiving. But, at the moment there is no message.
We are just waiting. Malta is thinking outside the box, offering incentives to tourists. Shouldn´t the Balearics be doing the same? As I said in this space yesterday it wouldn´t be a bad idea for the Balearics to offer to pay for PCR tests for tourists.
On average a tourist will spend at least 100 euros a day on a 10 day stay in the Balearics. A PCR test cost 100 euros. The tourist tax cash could be spent on giving tourists the jab also. These are dangerous times.
I am afraid to say that the islands are waking up to the realisation that tourists may not be coming again this summer season. I don´t think anyone had thought that this could happen.
I think really the Balearics had thought that everything would be fine and we would be welcoming millions of tourists. This is not going to the case.
The local authorities need to start thinking of a plan of action, even if it is just a promotional campaign in the key market. As one leading local hotelier said recently...we can´t have another season without tourists.