“On the one part we need tourists…on the other part, there is some fear and some anger.' Spain is allowing some tourists to visit its islands. But with no ICU beds or ventilators, residents of this tiny island have mixed feelings about reopening.
On the tiny Balearic island of Formentera, sometimes called Ibiza’s sister island, Raquel Calafat has been working hard to get the hotel that her great-grandfather established in the 1950s ready to greet tourists, who have been eerily absent for months.
She says that is probably due in part to Formentera’s history as a 1960s-onward hippie destination, even if it is more upmarket now. The 12-mile-long and 4-mile-wide paradise with its unspoiled beaches was apparently once even a haven for Americans fleeing the Vietnam draft. Spain’s outbreak was among the worst in Europe, with 246,272 infected and 28,323 deaths to date, while Formentera and its fellow Balearic islands — Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca and five other, lesser islands — suffered 224 deaths and 2,179 infections. Still, the islands went through the same strict seven-week lockdown as the rest of the country, complete with Guardia Civil patrols keeping people in their houses, says Calafaat.
The restaurant is set to open on Friday, but she worries because some clients have reported trouble getting flights to the Balearics. Responding to questions via email from MarketWatch, a spokeswoman from easyJet EZJ, -2.74% says the airline resumed some flights last week and plans to “increase our flying in the coming weeks to fly on 50% of our routes in July and 75% in August.”
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