An opportunity missed. For the last week Palma has been celebrating its patron saint, San Sebastian, in style, but unfortunately the fun has only been enjoyed by us lucky local residents. The severe shortage of flights has meant that Palma has been rather quiet over January. The concerts last Friday in all of Palma’s main square proved exceptionally popular and thousands joined the fun, but overall Palma has got the air of a city enjoying the quiet before the storm. But it could all be very different.
As I have said in this space before perhaps the resorts need time to recover from the long summer, but Palma is a different matter. The majority of hotels are open along with all other businesses. So why doesn't the Palma city council make a big push to promote San Sebastian and everything it has to offer? Tourists will travel. I know of a group of tourists from Britain who travelled over for the Atletico Baleares v. Real Mallorca football clash on Sunday, so there are flights: not many but some, all that is needed is some promotion. Many of the hotels have winter offers at the moment and flights are relatively cheap so all the council has to do is show some imagination and get people travelling.
January tourism could be a major source of revenue for the businesspeople of Palma because as I said at the start of this space it is relatively quiet at the moment. So the time has come for the city council to push for winter tourism.