When I attended the World Travel Market tourism fair in London last month, there was a single buzz word around the Balearic stand, Turkey. It was claimed that Turkey and other competing resorts were set to steal thousands of British tourists away from the islands. But nothing has been said locally about the so-called Turkish threat and we are heading towards a key holiday booking time. Now, it is evident, say some, that the islands will not be receiving as many tourists as in years gone by in 2018. The reason is obviously the cheaper competing resorts in the eastern Mediterranean. Privately, local politicians are saying that the islands can’t grow any more during the peak summer months. Unofficially, there is an impression that the good days are over and that the islands will return to a more balanced tourist industry. It is the hoteliers who are sounding the alarms bells claiming that the islands could lose in excess of one million tourists next season. I have even heard a drop of 20 per cent being mentioned. But of course it is early days.
What I do know is that some local hoteliers were returning home from the World Travel Market without having sold all their rooms. Now obviously, there is a big demand for the Balearics but not as much as previous years. It is always difficult to give an accurate picture of the tourist industry so far in advance because anything can happen and the situation can change overnight. But I suspect that 2018 will be a year of change. For the last three years the industry has grown and grown. It might be about to get smaller.