The Corona crisis has slowed down Spain's tourism industry. Europe's most important holiday destination now wants to dare to open it. This should be practiced in a pilot project - initially only with Germans.
Madrid / Palma (dpa) - After the waning of the Corona crisis, German tourists are the first foreign tourists to be allowed to enter Spain again from Monday. At first only 6000 of them and only to Mallorca and other Balearic Islands, Spanish media reported, citing the authorities.
Germany was chosen because the epidemiological situation there was very good and similar to that in the Balearic Islands, it was said. A two-week quarantine, as is currently mandatory for all foreigners entering Spain, should not exist in the Balearic Islands. According to this information, individual tourism is initially not planned.
The whole of Spain, which had been hit particularly hard by the Corona crisis, does not want to open up to foreign tourists until two weeks later. The pilot project in the Balearic Islands is said to serve to test the emergency - the expected rush of tourists after the borders open on July 1. One wants to check whether the security measures work among other things at the airports and in the hotels, it said. The regional president wants to announce tourist Francina Armengol on Tuesday, it said.
The pilot project was planned by the Balearic Government together with four local hotel chains, the "Mallorca Zeitung" reported. On the German side, the tour operators TUI, DER Touristik and Schauinsland Reisen are involved. In Mallorca, German vacationers should be accommodated at Playa de Palma and in the Bay of Alcúdia. The newspaper reported that there had been protests among locals about the pilot project. Parts of the population living there are afraid for their health.
Mallorca, Germany's favorite island, is expected to receive 4,000 tourists in the second half of June. A thousand visitors are to come to Menorca and the Pityuses (Ibiza and Formentera).
The Canary Islands are also reported to be negotiating a similar pilot with Madrid. In these talks, no decision was made on Monday because the Canary Islands had "higher security requirements", including corona virus tests for all visitors, "El País" reported.
"Mallorca newspaper"