Gabriel Escarrer of Meliá.

Gabriel Escarrer of Meliá. | Miquel À. Cañellas

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma20/04/2020 13:00
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The CEO of Meliá Hotels International, Gabriel Escarrer, says that this year's tourism season in the Balearics will be "negative". The situation in the Balearics and the Canaries, he argues, will be worse than in mainland regions because of the dependence on foreign markets and air connectivity.

For this reason, he is advocating the introduction of a "health passport". "I believe that it is reasonable that the European Union should take the initiative so that rapid tests can be carried out at points of origin on all passengers. This would need to also be done upon arrival - in the Balearics and the Canaries. In addition, the European health passport would help a great deal."

Escarrer is echoing what President Armengol said during Sunday's videoconference of regional presidents. There are technologies, she observed, which can check the health of people arriving in the Balearics, and the use of these technologies, plus the health passport, should be uniform across the EU.