A few months ago local hotel associations and areas of the Majorcan tourist industry were getting all excited claiming that the troubles in Egypt would fuel a boom in Winter tourism with British, French and German holiday makers turning their backs on Egypt and opting for chilly Majorca instead.
At the time, Iconsulted tour operator bosses in the UK who told me it “was wishful thinking” on behalf of the hoteliers and that, as the troubles were contained to Cairo and had not reached the popular Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, it was business as usual and it still is right now.
Coincidentally, mid-October is when high season starts in the Red Resorts and when Majorca closes for six months, so how the hell was Majorca, even if the reports were true, going to benefit from an exodus from Egypt with all the hotels and attractions closed?
I know the hoteliers have been on a high all season having enjoyed so-called record occupancy levels, but the rest of the local tourist industry has not been smoking the same funny tobacco - it has had to face the harsh reality of a growth in the number of all inclusive hotels and a drop in resort spending and, as the hotels close, they too have been forced to shut up shop because they will not have any punters again until next April in some resorts.
By then, everyone who had wanted to go to Egypt, would have done so - and enjoyed it.