Cala Llonga is still far from the precovid visitor figures, but the area, traditionally ‘British-dependent‘, is attracting visitors from different countries. Although they are not enough to compensate for the lack of British, little by little the village is diversifying its source markets, and some workers, whose businesses have recently opened, explain that in recent days they have noticed an increase in activity.
Autos Pinet is a rental company with 20 cars and 12 motorbikes. Since Tuesday they have managed to rent almost all their vehicles every day. Thanks, in part, to the opening of new hotels such as the Cala Llonga Resort. Lali Ramón, co-owner, assures that “if the season continues as it is now, the business will hold up well” to cover the expenses and needs of the four people who work there.
In fact, Ramon explains that this year they have already had customers from Germany, Holland, Poland, Slovenia and Lithuania, among other countries: “Before almost all tourists were British, but now they are attracting tourists from many countries to fill the apartments, which is very good for us not to depend only on one country,” explains this small businessowner.
“The season is ‘chugging along’, but my fear is that bookings will start to be cancelled as a result of the outbreaks,” she fears. Likewise, although she acknowledges that there are still very few English people in the area, she also shows her uncertainty about what will happen in the next review of Boris Johnson’s green light.
On the other hand, L’Altre Balagar, a restaurant in Cala Llonga, is working this week at 70% of its capacity, so it has increased its activity by more than 50% compared to previous weeks. Its manager, Ramón Ardura, confirms that now the origin of the tourists is more heterogeneous: “We had always worked with Dutch people, but this year there are also more Italians, French and Germans”. Even so, he recognizes that this variety does not compensate for the lack of what had been the main market: “We are starting to work well now and we are already in July, we have lost April, May and June, which is half the season,” laments Ardura. In addition, he notes that before Covid, there were older travellers, who now no longer travel as much for fear of catching Covid. What does remain, he stresses, is family tourism and young couples, characteristic of Cala Llonga.
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