Bars and restaurants in Mallorca can open from 20:00-22:30 from tonight and customers will be able to eat and drink on the terrace for the first time in nearly 4 months.
They still have to close at 17:00, but can reopen from 20.00-22.30 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays closing time will be 17:00.
"It's good news, but it seems insufficient," said CAEB-Restauración President, Alfonso Robledo who believes the evening hours are too late for European residents and the few tourists that are on the island, who usually dine at around 1900.
Customers
Robledo doubts that people will want to eat dinner outside because it’s still cold in the evening and pointed out that it means staff will have to remove terrace furniture and put it back twice a day or hire staff to work for two hours. He also called for urgent Government aid and tax relief for the Sector.
“The Hospitality Industry has lost millions," he said.
Business owners are calling for the Government to allow bars and restaurants interiors to open, because 70% of businesses in the Sector don’t have terraces so they have to stay closed.
The Balearic President, Francina Armengol wants to keep bar and restaurant interiors closed even after the State of Alarm ends on May 9, to prevent contagion and to make sure that the Balearic Islands qualify for the UK’s ‘Green’ List, so that tourists don’t have to quarantine when they return home.
The Government says vaccinations will increase with the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The Ministry of Health is waiting for the Inter-territorial Health Council to decide whether to give people a second dose of AstraZeneca.