Gabriel Escarrer, founder and president of Meliá Hotels.

The Balearic Islands is one of the autonomous communities hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis. The fall in tourism has had a direct impact on their wealth and the forecasts of the conseller of Economic Model and Tourism, Iago Negueruela, suggest that the contraction of PIB at the end of the year will be 28.8%.

The largest fortunes in the region are not immune to this situation. At least those related to the tourism sector. This is what emerges from the latest Forbes report of the 100 richest Spaniards in Spain in 2020. Miguel Fluxà Rosselló, executive president of the Iberostar group, falls from 4th to 10th place with a net worth of 1,500 million euros, half of the obtained last year. For his part, Gabriel Escarrer Juliá, founder and president of Meliá Hotels International, which last year occupied the 27th position in the ranking, has fallen to 52nd place. If in 2019 he accumulated one billion euros, this year his wealth has dropped to 425 million euros.

Two other businessmen from the Balearic Islands appear on the list of great Spanish fortunes. They are brothers Carlos and Juan March Delgado, president and shareholder of Corporación Financiera Alba respectively and the largest shareholders of Banca March. Both are in the middle of the table, in positions 44 and 53, with a fortune of 500 and 400 million euros. From one year to the next, their assets have increased by 400 million.

The Riu family, Simón Pedro Barceló, Abel Matutes from Ibiza and Juan José Hidalgo, owner of Globalia, disappear from the prestigious Forbes ranking, while Nadal consolidates himself as one of the richest men in the Balearic Islands, with a fortune valued at 160 millions of euros.