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A postcard from Mallorca from one of the first Britons to visit this summer

Pleta del Mar, Mallorcs
Pleta del Mar, Mallorcs

Fontsanta isn’t the sort of hotel that ever gets really buzzing. It’s the kind of understated five-star property that always seems half empty, even when it’s full, because it offers so much space. There is no need for face masks in the vast, gallery-like lobby, and if it weren’t for the widely available hand sanitiser at every door or desk, I’d be hard pressed to find evidence of a pandemic here. Even the spa is open, and as I’m face down on the treatment bed being pummeled within an inch of my life, I’m blissfully unaware that my masseuse is wearing a face mask.

After spending a couple of nights in Fontsanta’s sister hotel, Pleta de Mar, where none other than Michelin-starred Marc Fosh is currently crafting a sublime tasting menu, the last three months of high stress and strict lockdown feel a world away. I have finally relaxed, and in the cradle of Torre de Canyamel’s beautiful hotels (the group has four and they are all exceptional), I feel suitably sheltered from much of the chaos still going on beyond these honey-tinged walls.

But chaos there is. Barcelona has just announced that visitors must wear face masks at all times, even on the beach, and other areas of Spain are going back into regional lockdowns. The Balearics Government is now considering imposing mandatory masks in public places (excluding the beach), while the Scottish Government recently revealed that its 'travel corridors' don’t include mainland Spain or its islands, making summer holidays here impractical for many living north of the English border.

Palma - Getty
Palma - Getty

“There is serious uncertainty,” Rosana Murillo, General Director of the Balearics' tourist board told me at her office in the capital city, Palma. The island relies heavily on the tourism industry, particularly from Britain, and so teeth are gritted (from behind masks, of course) in the many resorts across its coastlines and mountains, with hotels and restaurants wondering if people will want to come back at all.

The picture in Palma is a little more positive, says Pedro Homar, manager of the city’s tourist board. “Tourism has come back to Palma much quicker than some places on the island. Right now, there are 130 hotels open in the municipality of Palma, which is a lot, and we are currently at around 40 per cent occupancy. Don’t get me wrong, the year is a disaster, but it's better than we expected.”

After our meeting, I took some time to stroll around the city. It was quiet – the plaza outside the vast, imposing cathedral was nearly empty, but I did spot a few tourists taking selfies and even a small group being lectured by a masked guide.

Terraces in the streets were filling up by mid morning – the government has allowed restaurants and bars to double the size of their outdoor seating by taking up the parking spaces directly outside their doors – and people were shopping and milling about in parks. It felt almost normal, aside from all the masked faces.

It’s the north of the island Homar is worried about. “Anywhere that doesn’t get the tour operators and mass tourism like we do in Palma will be hit hard,” he told me.

On my near-empty Ryanair flight on July 4, the first day the English were allowed by the FCO to travel internationally, a group of five twenty-somethings sat in the rows behind me drinking beers and prosecco. They were off to the southern resort of Paguera, they told me, after their holiday to Greece had been cancelled and rescheduled three times during lockdown.

Magaluf - Getty
Magaluf - Getty

On arrival, I made a beeline for Magaluf, just a 20-minute drive from Palma. An infamous resort associated with package holidays and mass alcohol tourism, I had expected to find at least some semblance of the party town I’d seen on television now that holidaymakers could return. But the main strip was dead, the majority of bars and clubs were closed and I was just one of five drinkers outside the Britannia Pub.

So it seems it's not just the north that needs to be concerned. This southern resort has been hit hard by the lack of British visitors, and with new anti-alcohol laws in place and even stricter social distancing rules imposed on Magaluf (only bars with outdoor terraces can open), things may not get back to the way they were anytime soon.

“Travel is emotional,” Murillo had told me in Palma. “It’s all about how we feel. And we want tourists to feel safe and welcome.”

Safe and welcome is exactly how I felt arriving at Fontsanta, and at Pleta de Mar. The same could not be said for my hotel in Magaluf, where the breakfast and dinner buffets were a free-for-all of unmasked tourists barking orders at the servers behind plastic screens, and I didnt see a single sunbed cleaned throughout my stay.

“This idea of exclusivity, of not spending your holiday with 300 other people, is more attractive now,” Murillo told me. “People will want smaller hotels where you share the space with fewer people, so it could benefit the north.”

It certainly seemed to me that the larger the hotel, the harder it is to ensure everybody is safe. So this year, if you’re considering a trip to Mallorca, the best way to go is north.