The Balearic minister for the economic model, tourism and employment, Iago Negueruela, said on Wednesday that Balearic GDP contracted by 40.5% between April and June. The data, he stated, "clearly demonstrate our dependence on the tourism sector".
The minister explained that the forecast for the year has been "positively" revised. The previous forecast of a 31.6% fall in GDP for the whole of 2020 has been altered to 28.8%. The previous calculation was based on an expectation of tourism activity being virtually nil in July. There was, however, some reactivation in the first month of the current quarter.
Negueruela believed that the GDP data for the third quarter will be better because of what tourism activity there was in July and August. As for the fourth quarter, this will depend on "how other sectors function".
The Balearics, he stressed, has been one of the regions most affected by the economic and labour consequences of the pandemic. "It is a difficult and hard year for thousands of workers on the islands." He pointed to the social situation this autumn being "very worrying", despite protection from ERTE.
Although some 28,000 workers who were under ERTE terms returned to their jobs in August, the minister said that the number is likely to increase because of the fall in tourism activity in August and companies taking advantage of a "new outbreak ERTE".