68,000 registered for 180 spots on Gran Canaria Covid-free trial holiday

Some 68 thousand people registered for the second Fieldlab trial holiday that will take place on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, the largest of the Canary Islands, in May, ANP reported. There were a total of 180 places available for the second “coronavirus-proof“ trial holiday jointly organized by the government and travel providers.

The trip to Spain is being organized by TUI and Corendon. The registrations were then evenly distributed between both companies who could choose 90 participants who will depart to the island in the North Atlantic Ocean at the beginning of May. The registration period opened on Monday and immediately saw great interest; more than 60,000 registrations were made on the first day.

When selecting participants to take part in the pilot, strict criteria set by Fieldlab must be been met, such as a certain distribution of men and women, and people of different ages. Additionally, travel companies tried to match the profiles to people who would normally travel to Gran Canaria in the same period of the year. All tourists taking part in the pilot project will have to provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test prior to the departure and will have to quarantine upon their return home.

This second trial holiday will allow the guests to leave the resort, which is the most significant difference compared to the first pilot holiday that took part in the Greek island of Rhodes earlier in April. At the Greek destination, the 189 participants were told to stay on the grounds of the five-star resort the entire duration of their trip. Travel organization Sunweb, who was in charge of the Rhodes holiday, received about 25,000 registrations for a trip to the island.

Together with the findings of a first “coronavirus-proof“ holiday that took place on Rhodes, the Gran Canaria trip is meant to offer a model of how international tourism can safely resume as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic linger.