Two sides to the story

THE Madrid government was busy toasting a record August for tourism yesterday with foreign tourists spending billions in Spain last month. But not everybody was celebrating yesterday. Infact, in bars and restaurants in resorts across Majorca the champagne was very much on ice. The official figures tell a story;a rise in the number of tourists who spent more money. The big winners were naturally the hoteliers and the losers were the small army of bar and restaurant owners across the country who saw their takings fall because of an increase in all inclusive holidays and the recession. On the same day as the government announced their August figures, a group of local business people claimed that from 2008 to 2011 more than 1,000 businesses in the islands involved in tourism had closed down. Many of them were bars. The business people said that they faced a massive struggle to survive. It is certainly a mixed picture;the all inclusive bracelet is threatening to ruin the livelihood of thousands of small businesses on the island but the Spanish government, desperate for some good economic news, was not going to allow this state of affairs to ruin the party. There is also concern that the summer season is getting shorter every year and winter tourism in the Balearics, has become almost nonexistent. So while there are some reasons to celebrate there are other reasons to be worried but Idoubt that the Spanish government is too concerned.