Guasp, who challenged the president in parliament earlier this week over her failure to pay any proper attention to the British tourism market after having pandered so much to the Germans and for having no Plan B, yesterday stressed how important the British market is not only to Majorca, but all of the Balearic Islands.
“All we hear from Armengol is that we are not on the green list because of internal problems the UK has with the Indian variant. But, if she was to look at the British Embassy’s Twitter feed and website it clearly explains the reasons and the primary one is the slow vaccination roll out.
“My party, the Majorcan Hotel Federation and the Confederation of Balearic Business Associations have repeatedly told her and her government to get vaccinating, it’s the key to reopening the tourist industry properly and getting the British market back as quickly as possible.
“The weeks are passing us by and, as thing stands at the moment, the Balearics may not get on to the green list until the end of this month. That really does not give us a lot of time to turn things around.
“I know there is huge demand in the UK for holidays in the Balearics, but we’ve still got scores of hotels and even entire resorts closed because the Balearics is on amber.
“It’s not just about opening hotels, it’s the whole supply chain of bars, restaurants, souvenir shops, supermarkets etc., plus getting people back to work.
“I have friends who work in hotels which depend on the British market and they have been on furlough for over a year now. It’s not acceptable. But nothing is being done -and this goes to the very top, to the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. In order to get the Balearics on the green list, never mind the rest of Spain where Covid case levels are much higher, Spain and the UK need to be involved in talks at the very highest level. We need maximum diplomacy, but Spain has yet to appoint an ambassador to the UK, we’ve got no one to fight our corner and the Balearics could be made to pay a high price for this breakdown in communications.
“The Balearic government needs to be much more proactive, promotional campaigns should be running across the UK otherwise the competition will beat the Balearics to the British market.
“The Balearic government needs to be sending out the right message. Instead of reverting to tarnishing British holiday makers with the same brush and focusing on Magalluf, which is far from open, again, we need to be sending out a clear message that the British are more than welcome.
“What we can’t afford to do is demonise them. Magalluf accounts for only a small section of the British market. Contrary to what Armengol and her government would have us believe, the Germans or the Dutch are not the biggest spenders in the Balearics, it is the British.
“If the vaccine rollout is proving to be the main stumbling block then get on to the Prime Minister and demand that more vaccines are delivered to the Balearics as soon as possible. Until we get the vaccination level up to anywhere near the UK, the British government has made it clear that neither the Balearics nor any other destination will be added to the green list. It’s all on the British government’s websites in black and white. Instead of trying to shift the emphasis on to the UK, Armengol should be doing everything within her powers to resolve her domestic problems and get the Balearics on the green list as soon as possible. We desperately need the British back and quickly.”
14 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Today TUI announced that they have cancelled ALL Scottish Flights to Spain till end of July 2021
Someone talking sense at last! She is totally spot on!
Everybody else from all over Europe and others parts of the world is now visiting and holidaying here. So what´s your point Stan and others? It is only the British that think Mallorca is unsafe. So good luck with that.
Anybody who believes now that the UK will change to green list for the bottom of the vaccination table and come to visit us with no tests required Mallorca. Is just plain CUCKOO!
Armengol wants separate rulings for the Balearics by statng that we're in a better position here than the mainland, but it's a lie of course, we're actually the worst levels of vaccination in Spain. Unreliable data is another failure on the UK's criteria list, along with non-reducing contagion rates and insufficient vaccination levels. So she hasn't helped her cause in the end....
Armengol wants separate rulings for the Balearics by statng that we're in a better position here than the mainland, but it's a lie of course, we're actually the worst levels of vaccination in Spain. Unreliable data is another failure on the UK's criteria list, along with non-reducing contagion rates and insufficient vaccination levels. So she hasn't helped her cause in the end....
Wow, the truth at last. So sick of reading lies and bulls*it from the hotelier's federation puppet...
Whatever political party you support, this woman is spot on. The British have said that their number one criteria for the green list is vaccinations. The Balearic vaccine rollout is appalling. Worse still, this week two mayor retailers in mallorca offered to help out and vaccinate staff - as they had in Valencia ... the Balearic Government said no. Pride? Stupidity? Who knows. Yet, they are happy to allow in British tourists (yes the UK where the new Delta variant is running wild) with no testing. This isn’t clever politics. This is just madness. We should support opposition leaders who are flagging the issues - this situation needs to be addressed.
Lets put the British Government to one side for now and lets talk about the tourists. I have travelled to Majorca every year since the mid 80s but I wouldnt want to travel there now. Lets start with the airport, once you check in you are stuck in a departure lounge with hundreds/ thousands of people with not much hope of social distancing. Next the flight stuck in a tube shoulder to shoulder wearing masks for upto three hours. You have landed everyone standing up over you waiting to get off then the long queues at the airport, passport control etc and believe me I have stood in some really long queues in there. Next the coach journey, sitting on a cramped coach waiting for it to fill up. Then you have the hotel again standing around in all that heat waiting to check in with a mask on. Then bars and clubs shutting early because they have been told to do so no it just doesnt sound very attractive to me at all then on top of all this the local government charging a family a tourist tax on top of the expense of the holiday. More people are staying in the UK because they have made massive improvements to their homes, garden bars etc whilst they were locked down how do I know because I am one of them, drive around any street and they look like building sites. No money left to go abroad this year. I'm sorry but the government have done the right thing because the Majorca has opened its doors to Europe so the potential of a spread is huge especially with a low vaccine rate. Hopefully next year things may change however will flight companies and hotels bars and restaurants stick their prices up to try and make it back up quickly because that will be a recipe for disaster too.
The corrupt PP party do whatever it takes to overthrow the gov, even if it's against the interest of the citizens, so they lie and don't propose anything. In Balearics they have injected the 93.5% of the vaccines we've received, so shame on the PP! https://cadenaser.com/emisora/2021/03/30/radio_mallorca/1617083253_792717.html