Majorca is already feeling the effects of the outbreak of coronavirus with guests cancelling hotel reservations in Palma and Chinese tourists changing their holiday plans for security reasons, according to hotel sources and the HuaXin Travel, in Palma.
A significant number of Asians who planned to come to Majorca have had to cancel their trip because the Beijing government has ordered all travel agencies to suspend sales of international tourist packages, as part of the measures to contain the viral outbreak.
The outbreak couldn’t have come at a worse time, thousands of Chinese people are on the move, celebrating their Lunar New Year with friends and family all over the world.
"Chinese customers living in Majorca have chosen to cancel trips they had planned to take to celebrate the Chinese New Year in their country and postpone it for another date for security reasons," said a HuaXin Travel representative.
Some Hotels in Palma are also noticing that guests are cancelling reservations, especially the GPRO Valparaíso.
“We are being affected by the measures taken in China; we had customers coming to celebrate the traditional New Year's memorial party at the hotel on Friday. We also had to cancel the performances of Chinese actors at dinner, who couldn't come for the same reasons and the cancellation of reservations will continue if the current circumstances do not change,” said GPRO Valparaíso Palace Hotel Director, Antoni Ferrer.
Aviba
The President of the Balearic Islands travel agency Aviba, Francesc Mulet, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommendation not to go to China "is affecting Chinese people resident in Majorca who are most likely to book tour packages to their country. The problem will get worse if the coronavirus spreads through Southeast Asia, because many Majorcans choose to spend their vacations there.”
Mulet also believes that if the virus had occurred at any other time it would not have spread so quickly.
“The only thing to do now is to wait for the situation to normalise, because in the worst case scenario, the Chinese government could order the closure of its borders, which would have a negative effect at economic and tourist levels.·