The management of the Balearic travel agencies, AVIBA, regrets having lost 90% of the income in the year of pandemic that society is going through. Its president, Xisco Mulet, has stressed in the SER the bad times these businesses are going through, a situation that he describes as a “debacle” as one out of every four companies of this nature has closed.
One of the handicaps that the agencies have faced, as Mulet has pointed out, has been the return of deposits from customers who had already booked for vacations, not being the case for companies such as shipping companies , tour operators, hotels or airlines, who have not done the same, a year later, for the agencies in most cases.
Despite everything, Mulet remains hopeful about what he calls “green shoots.” It considers encouraging news such as the massive number of reservations made from the United Kingdom for the next season, starting on May 17, as well as the good assessment by President Sánchez and the Minister of Tourism, Reyes Maroto, to the Balearic Government proposal for the creation of the COVID certificate.
archipelago
Another of the aces up the sleeve from which the archipelago could benefit is the application of the resident discount. President Armengol’s proposal was to use the amount of this fund for 2020, the year in which hardly any travel has been done, to reduce the price of tickets on journeys from the peninsula and thus encourage the arrival of domestic travelers.
Regarding the role of the Balearic resident as a tourist, Mulet has stressed that, in the absence of verifying what the situation will be like at the beginning of summer, he will opt for the north of the peninsula and the European capitals, depending on the limitations imposed by each country by then. He has clarified that the confirmation of a bond intended to reactivate inter-island tourism is expected.
