When it was first being mooted early this month that Playa de Palma might act as a "test resort" for the reactivation of foreign tourism, residents associations expressed their opposition. Playa de Palma, it was said, needed to recover without there being "business experiments with risks for health".
Last week it was confirmed that the intention is for Playa de Palma to be the test resort. Three hotels, yet to be agreed on, will accommodate foreign tourists arriving in Majorca on "test flights". These are likely to be some time in the second half of June. Given the previous objection, it is no surprise that residents are again taking issue with the plan; they are going to be "treated like guinea pigs by the tourism industry in collusion with public administrations". "We want to decide on our health."
A residents group in Arenal insists that Arenal is "more than just the tourist brand of Playa de Palma". This is "not a theme park for the tourism industry and its economic activity". "It is an area where tourist and residential uses coexist with no few conflicts that administrations have been unwilling to resolve for years."
In this regard, the residents go on to complain about the general lack of commitment to the area and the absence of a "true model for change that addresses underlying problems that existed before the current crisis".