Mallorca and Ibiza will be the first places in Spain to have the 14-day quarantine rule for foreign tourists lifted.
President of the Balearic government, Francina Armengol revealed today that she has been told the islands can lift the regulation on June 21st rather than on July 1st which the rest of Spain is expecting.
This, she says, will allow the planned experiment to bring 5,000 Germans to Mallorca to go-ahead in a bid to test all of its anti-coronavirus protocols from the moment they arrive at the airport to the moment they leave.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has already announced that the current 14-day quarantine rule will be scrapped on July 1st to pave the way for international travel, with his now-famous comment of "Book your summer holidays, we are open for business!"
Today, Mr Sanchez had a video conference with the leaders of autonomous regions across Spain when he revealed that he would be asking for the final extension of the State of Emergency until June 21st.
In the final stage of the de-escalation period, the different areas of the country will be able to make more decisions for themselves but he stressed that it remained with the Spanish government to open the borders to different countries, yet to be decided, from July 1st.
However, the Balearic president said she had put it to the Prime Minister that Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera needed the 14-day quarantine rule lifted from June 21st if the German experiment was to go-ahead.
Only in this way, she said, would this first batch of visitors be able to enjoy the same freedoms as local residents, such as going to the beach and sitting on the terraces, rather than being confined to their hotels.
According to Spanish media Ultrahora.es, the Prime Minister has agreed and would make an exception for the Balearics in these circumstances.
It is not known if the lifting of the 14-day quarantine would apply just to the German visitors or all other international tourists who arrive during those last nine days of June.
In any event, it is still not clear when Brits would be able to travel as both Spain and the UK need to give the go-ahead and Britain still has its own 14-day quarantine rule.
Four hotels in Mallorca have offered to take the German visitors.
Two of them are in Platja de Palma and two in Alcúdia. It is hoped to have another one Menorca, another in Ibiza and a third in Formentera.
