Palma city council has written to the ports authority calling on it to try and limit visits by giant cruise ships. If I had been a passenger on the Symphony of the Seas, the giant cruise ship which sailed into Palma on Sunday, I wouldn't have been too interested in coming to Palma either. The fact that the 7,000 passengers were met by a protest by more than 100 people is one thing, the fact that they had to walk or travel miles to find a shop open is another.
The ministry for tourism has said that it wants to find a balance between environmental concerns over cruise ships and the need for cash from cruise ship passengers. It is a very fine line. But the fact that only a handful of shops were actually open in Palma last Sunday clearly underlines the fact that Palma is not getting its money's worth from cruise ships, so really they might as well go elsewhere. If you have got a cruise ship with 7,000 passengers visiting the port, surely the council should allow all shops to open on a Sunday even if it is just for the summer season. It's an opportunity missed. I am sure that the spending power of visiting cruise ship passengers was severely reduced because the majority of local businesses were closed.
This is a sad state of affairs. Not only does it show Palma in a poor light, it is not doing much to encourage more cruise ship passengers to visit. A decision must be made: either we embrace all cruise ship passengers or they should go elsewhere.