Portals Vells beach last summer. | Gabriel Alomar

TW
0

There are 33 beaches in Calvia. They are a mix of urban and rustic and all with their characteristics that have to be taken into account in determining thresholds for social distancing.

The town hall's coasts department, the Calvia 2000 municipal services agency and Civil Protection are currently putting together a plan to establish all safety and prevention aspects on beaches. This will draw on the protocols set out by Spain's Institute for Tourism Quality; Calvia town hall was involved with the final drafting of the protocols' document.

Beach capacity both for areas with sunloungers and without is having to be defined. The plan is for there to be a 4.4 metre distance between sunlounger sets, while a distance between people in "free" zones (i.e. where there are no sunloungers) is being considered. This will have to bear in mind family groups.

It has yet to be decided how the spacing for social distancing is to be marked. This will have to avoid there being excessive obstacles to the daily cleaning of beaches. The frequency of disinfection of the likes of sunloungers, showers, walkways is a further factor that is being considered.

There is now added urgency in implementing the plan. Under the de-escalation programme, beaches were to have been opened in Phase 3, which is from 8 June. This has been amended, so beaches can open in Phase 2, and Majorca is likely to move to Phase 2 this coming Monday.