Published on Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Britons likely to be banned from Balearics for entire summer

British holidaymakers are unlikely to be able to return to the Balearic Islands this summer due to the UK's 'delayed' lockdown.

The islands of Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera have said they don't expect any tourists in May, June or July due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

All commercial passenger flights are currently banned.

Tourism minister Iago Negueruela said tourism activity could start 'minimally' in August, but with only 25% of the usual visitor numbers. He said this figure could gradually increase to 50% over the following months.

However, he hinted that certain countries, including the UK, which took longer to take measures to restrict the spread of the coronavirus, will face a Balearics ban for longer.

"There are countries like the United Kingdom that have taken too long to adopt containment measures and that also puts us in a different situation with respect to them," he told local media.

Cancelling the bulk of the tourist season is expected to cost the Balearics around €9.2 billion and GDP is expected to fall by 31.6% according to the islands' Department of Labour.

Almost 150,000 jobs are expected to be lost on the four islands, with ministers admitting that Ibiza and Formentera, which rely most heavily on tourism, are likely to be hardest hit.

The Balearics attracted 13.6 million tourists last year, almost a third of which were from Britain, its largest overseas market, just slightly ahead of Germany.