If you venture round Palma at the moment, you will discover that the city is packed with tourists, a great sign that our principal industry is doing very well this year. But is Palma just too busy this year? Are there just too many tourists? Well the simple answer is probably yes, but only on given days when there are a large number of cruise ships in port coupled with holidaymakers coming into town from the resorts.
The tourism ministry is concerned. It is looking at ways to try and limit the visits of cruise ships so that they do not take place all at once and on the same day. The ministry feels that tourists and local residents will not be able to enjoy our capital city because it is simply too crowded. And they are not wrong. But of course tourism is our livelihood and the last thing the city needs to do is to turn tourists away. We are also only talking about a few weeks of the year, but there has already been a slight backlash against tourism. Graffiti appeared in some streets calling for a limit on tourism.
I think the ministry needs to coordinate visits by cruise ships to Palma. It is not really acceptable having five giant cruise ships one day and none the next. This is the way forward. Palma is obviously a hugely popular holiday destination but at the same time tourists come here to enjoy themselves. They will not be able to do this if they feel the city is too crowded with people and traffic.