Boom or bust
Dear Sir,
I have written to you on numerous occasions in the past and after visiting the Island for 30 years now the administrations here seem to go from a boom to bust situation when things are booming everyone starts to moan and they slap on the taxes and when the visitors start changing their destinations like back to Turkey and Tunisia they start to panic and start to panic as to how to get the visitors back with their pockets full of money but beware those pockets are no longer full so don’t shoot yourselves in the foot put you brains in gear before you make these radical changes, also I do remind many if it was not for the sun in the sky and the jet aircraft where would the economy of the Island be.Times they are a changing!!
Austin Morgan
Cala D’Or
Dear Sir,
In Saturday’s Daily B Viewpoint criticised restaurants which close on Sundays especially during the tourist season. In my area the restaurants have both residents and tourists as clients. All are open for business on Sundays. Some close on a Monday, some open all week but close for a month or so in winter – these are often family owned. A basic problem is that many businesses have hours to suit their staff – not their clients. Our local DIY (Do It Yourself) shops are not so customer friendly. For example, in the UK DIY shops are open over the weekend when their clients are off work and have free time to fix up things at home. The DIY staff have their “weekend break” during the week. Not here – our Ferreterias close at 1pm on Saturday and remain closed till Monday. Adding to the turmoil is the little-known fact that Spain is only completely open for 15 hours each week! Some businesses, like hypermarkets, open as late as 10am while others, like Ferreterias, close for lunch at 1pm. By the time they reopen at 4pm many, like banks, have already closed for the day. Many work a 5-day week so Spain is “partially closed” for 91% of the time AND I have ignored public holidays, fiestas and occasional Saints Days not to mention August.
Mike Lillico
Playa de Palma
Passport non-problems at airport
Dear Sir,
Imagine my dismay with my flight (on Saturday 23 June) due to depart in 50 minutes when I Ieft the airport lounge for the short walk to the boarding gates at Terminal A and found myself in this queue for passport control - see photograph looking ahead of me. Disaster? No! On the contrary the organisation of the queue was excellent. There was an army of helpers and officials at the front of the queue moving people quickly and efficiently through the passport control booths. Take a look at the photograph and guess how long it took me to get from this point to my boarding gate.The answer is - 14 minutes! It was for once a triumph of airport organisation. Congratulations to all concerned!
Steve Riches