• Palma's Hotel Association predicts 70% of hotels to reopen by August 2020 with further growth in September and October.
• Pedro Homar from Palma Tourism Board reveals new app to manage the capacity of visitors to Palma's surrounding beaches.

The President of Palma and Cala Major's Hotel Association, Javier Vich, has confirmed that 70% of Palma's hotels will reopen by August 2020 with further openings anticipated in September and October. 60% of hotels in the area are anticipated to be open by the end of July.

Vich outlined that the Balearic Island capital, Palma, has one of the highest percentages of four- and five-star properties in Spain; partly thanks to the positive evolution of the city's tourism infrastructure in recent years. Four and five star properties now account for over 90% of the city's hotel inventory with a total of 10,560 hotel beds.

Vich said “of course our hotel sector has been hit significantly by this crisis but we are reassured at the rate of which our properties are reopening and their rapid adaptation of new measures and protocols to ensure the safety of guests and staff.”

Palma tests new app to guarantee social distancing on surrounding beaches

Managing Director of Palma Tourist Board, Pedro Homar, has revealed a new app is currently being developed to successfully control the number of visitors on Palma's surrounding beaches.

The app which is an adaptation of a successful trial that was previously used to manage the flow of cruise passengers around the city, links to heat sensors that are able to monitor the amount of human activity on Palma's surrounding beaches. The app will then display in real time which beaches are less crowded and which are at full capacity so that both visitors and residents can make informed decisions about where to go.

Available for visitors via android and IOS, the new app is called “SafeBeaches” and will be available to download from 10 July.  

For more information on Palma as a visitor destination, please visit www.visitpalma.com or follow @PassionforPalma. Images of Palma can be downloaded here.