Dear Sir,
I read Geoff Rose's contribution to your letters page with interest. May I suggest that he left one important factor out of his comprehensive summary of what needs to be done in order to recapture the Majorca winter tourism market.
I use the word recapture because in my recent experience the Scandinavian model he quotes in Alcudia was a well established mainstay in Palma Nova and other large resorts with many British pensioners spending six to eight winter weeks at hotels such as the Santa Lucia.
I believe that the island needs to do some market research in the UK and other Northern European countries to establish whether there is still a market and whether it can be further developed ( walking holidays, birdwatching etc).
On the back of this evidence the island can then approach the tourism industry and ask for product development for this market. Majorca has heaps going for it as a winter destination - short flight times, wonderful scenery, good infrastructure and a big ex pat community and, on the whole, decent winter weather either side of the equinoxes.- we would be first on the plane given the chance !
Phil & Debbie Bland
Ilkley. West Yorks