Dear Sir,
I visited the Isle of Skye on the north west tip of Scotland at the weekend. The scenery was beautiful. I also thought how wonderful the scenery in the Soller Valley is in the winter and how it is essential to build links between the Spanish tourist authorities and Visit Scotland.
Your campaign to get winter flights re-instated has been fantastic and it is great that as from next year Ryanair will be flying from Scotland twice a week. Personally, I believe that the Spanish authorities must work on this by reducing winter airport charges to similar levels that are enjoyed by tourists in Benidorm and Costa Del Sol.
The Scottish government has already taken a big step by reducing airport passenger duty by 50% and according to Keith Brown, the minister for infrastructure, the Scottish government wants to fade it out completely in the near future.
The Daily Bulletin reported that on 8 January 2016 that Benidorm had an occupancy rate of approximately 80% in the second half of December. I believe at the same time Majorca had an occupancy level of only 2%. I believe Palma city now has a group known as the 365 group and they are actively promoting tourism in Palma throughout the whole year. I hope they are successful.
When I returned from Majorca at the end of January the airport departures board highlighted 75 flights of which only one was to the UK. The authorities still have a long way to go to build up British winter tourism again.
Yours sincerely
Ian Rice
Britain’s Referendum
Dear Sir,
Is it wrong of me to believe that the 15-year rule was put in place to stop expats voting in general elections etc and not for more serious issues such as the EU referendum?
If this is the case, it does not need a change in an Act of Parliament but only that Mr Cameron needs to waive the 15-year rule for this life-changing vote.
Yours sincerely
C Crane
Palma