Lockdown created drastic drop in Balearic tourist numbers

NOT surprisingly there was a drastic drop in the number of tourists staying in the Balearic Islands’ hotels in the first half of this year.
Thanks to lockdown and all the restrictions on movement, the total figure for the beginning of the year until the end of June was just eight per cent of the total for the same period of last year.
In all 313,145 travellers stayed in establishments on Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera in the first six months of 2020, according to recently published figures from the National Institute of Statistics.
This compares with the 3,968,781 tourists who stayed on the archipelago in the first half of 2019.
More than a little ironically, this year had started better than last. In January and February, before the state of alarm came into force, the numbers were up on the same months of 2019.
Overnight stays in Balearic hotels for the six months ending in June added up to 1,199,800, 94 per cent less than last’s tally of 21,226,051.
The Institute statistics show that there were 99 hotels offering 9,824 places altogether open on the four islands in June. This represents six per cent of the archipelago’s total.
In the same month of 2019, there were 1,342 hotels open, offering 360,084 places.
The average hotel occupation level for June last year was 82 per cent, while this year it averaged 18.75 per cent.
Nevertheless, hotel occupation levels in the Balearics last month were the second highest among Spain’s regions, beaten only by Madrid.
Of the travellers who did stay on the islands this June, 18,421 were Spanish residents, while 5,613 live in other countries.
Overnight stays for the month added up to 70,252, a whopping 99.2 per cent less than the 9.2 million in June 2019.
The state of alarm was not lifted until June 21, when free movement around Spain was permitted once again.