Viewpoint: A step in the right direction

What we need to do now is start planning for summer 2022

“I think we can say that summer 2021 marked the start of the recovery in the tourist industry....” | J. TABERNER

Jason MoorePalma30/08/2021 10:47

I am in the dark. The Balearic government is forecasting a fantastic end to the summer season but the island still feels half empty. Granted some places are busy but others are empty. There are reports that September could be a fantastic month especially now that Germany has taken Spain off the “Covid danger list.” But schools in Britain and Germany re-open in the coming days so that is the end of family tourism for another year.

Yes, September is generally a relatively good month for tourism but we don´t get the same number of people we get in July or August. Some hotels have still not re-opened and others are still thinking of closing early. There are so many mixed messages at the moment it is difficult to get the real picture. I would say that Palma is half empty. There are tourists but not as many as previous years. Things in Palma are obviously different because there are few cruise ship passengers, so that could explain why the capital is quiet. It is a similar state of affairs in the resorts; some are busy others empty.

I think we can safely say that summer 2021 has been better than summer 2020 but only just and we are still a long way behind summer 2019. That is the truth, or at least how I see it at the moment. There could be a late surge in bookings but it is probably unlikely because of the overall Covid situation. What we can say is that summer 2021 marked the start of the recovery. I think what we need to do now is start planning for summer 2022 which could see a return of the numbers of 2019. We are moving in the right direction at last. Well, at least at the moment.