On Friday, some 500 young people, aged 17 and 18, arrived in Palma on a Baleària ferry from Valencia. They were the first of the academic year-end students coming to Mallorca on what are referred to as "study trips".
Over the weekend, over 2,000 more students will be arriving. They will be heading to hotels in Magalluf and Playa de Palma. One of the organisers, Viajes Unicampus, says that it has been able to "recover this holiday segment, which before the pandemic had 30,000 beds booked for Mallorca in June and July". CEO José Luis Madrid adds: "There is a desire to travel among the youngest and this has been noticed in the bookings made by educational institutions, even more so after everything that happened last year."
According to the Viajes Unicampus CEO, the holiday packages involve five nights in three or four-star hotels on full board. "The prices range between 350 and 600 euros, depending on the package."
All students will "strictly comply with measures required by the Balearic health ministry to prevent Covid infections". Depending on region of origin, they will be required to present an antigen or PCR test. "No student will go ashore without health controls."
The coach operators association says that the transport of students will involve at least seventy coach trips to hotels in Magalluf and Playa de Palma. The organisers add that the students will mean that hotels have an average occupancy of around 80%. "For many, this will be a solution for June, which has been plagued by uncertainties due to the ups and downs in the European markets and especially the UK."
Madrid explains that there will be sixty "monitors" and that excursions will include the Caves of Drach and a music event at the Son Fusteret showground in Palma this coming Wednesday.
The president of the Playa de Palma Hoteliers Association, Isabel Vidal, says that the study trips are good news. "They are positive, but all the young people must abide by the Covid measures and municipal bylaws on behaviour. We know that they are coming to have a good time, but they have to understand that all regulations must be complied with and that those of us who are working as well as residents must be respected."