A week to forget for Mallorca´s tourist industry. It was a question of seeing red at the British government´s decision to keep Spain and the Balearics at “amber” rather than “green,” in their traffic light safe travel system.
Steve Heapy, the Chief of Executive of Jet2, is someone I admire. He made it clear during a Bulletin interview last month that the local government should be in direct contact with the British government sharing all the relevant information on the low number of coronavirus cases and the vaccination programme in the Balearics.
He was adamant that this was the way forward which could help put the islands on the “green list.” He also supported the idea of “safe air corridors” between the Balearics and Britain. To be honest there is no reason for the Balearics to be on “amber.” We have far fewer cases than the rest of Spain and basically life has returned to normal in the islands. The problem is the rest of the country.
Certain parts of Spain, including Madrid, have a high level of cases and this was one of the reasons which prompted the British government to keep the country on “amber.” It is a shame that the Balearics couldn´t have pushed harder for safe air corridors and underlined the low level of cases in the islands at government level.
I know splitting the green list into regions rather than countries would have been no easy task and the British government would have probably refused, but it was certainly worth a try. The Balearic government must continue to “spread the word” about the low level of cases and fingers crossed that the islands can soon be on the green light.