Local businesses in much of Spain have been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, while neighbouring countries are enforcing warnings to prospective tourists due to the number of cases in the country.
The Balearic Islands are particularly affected, which come with Mallorca and Ibiza, the place of annual summer pilgrimages for millions of revelers and sun lovers, now ghost towns by comparison.
Euronews visited Ibiza, home to world-class super clubs, bevery onees and streets full of restaurants that attract millions of visitors every year.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has left this position unrecognizable, with almost empty beaches, and only strange tourists strolling through the streets, they decided to spend their holidays in the sun no matter what.
“We get up earlier, we do more activities, we notice a lot more about the island this year than last year,” a British couple told Euronews.
Upon their return to the UK, they will have to be quarantined for two weeks, with Spain on the list of countries considered to be the main threat through the British government.
And it’s not just the British who largely avoid holidays in Spain thanks to these measures. Germany, another very important source of tourists for these islands, has included almost all of Spain in its red list of high-risk countries. Mallorca is known as the seventeenth regional state of Germany, due to the number of people who spend every year on holiday.
Austria also strongly advised its residents not to travel to the Balearic Islands from August 24, even asking holidaymakers to leave the archipelago.
Christina González, who runs a jet ski and boat rental business on the San Antonio boardwalk in Ibiza, says reserves have fallen by at least 40% compared to last year.
She says this year has been “pretty crazy,” with almost empty streets full of tourists.
Spain imposed one of the strictest lockdowns in the world at the height of the pandemic in March, and since the removal of the highest draconian restrictions, it has reintroduced measures such as dressing in an outdoor mask at all times (except for exercise), restricting the number of other people who can meet and enforce strict capacity limits in restaurants and bars.
Despite all this, the authorities continue and the City Council of the Balearic Islands has officially declared that they suffer a momentary wave of coronavirus.
This is accompanied by a stern warning: if cases are controlled, even stricter measures may soon be imposed.
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