I went to a hugely popular beach side restaurant on Sunday without a reservation and to my amazement I was shown to a table at once. Later, I went to have a drink at one of Palma's top bars and discovered that not only was its car park half empty so was the bar! Whatever the airport figures say, Palma is exceptionally quiet at the moment. In fact, you could be forgiven for thinking that we are not at peak season. But we are and Majorca needs to be busy. I think we need to be exceptionally careful. I know for a fact that a local consumer affairs office has received a large number of calls from British tourists asking whether or not tourists were still welcome. I suspect that Palma will get exceptionally busy from the start of next month but so far the holiday season is very much below par. So much so that local businesses are starting to complain.
During the last three years the island has enjoyed record breaking seasons. The reason is simple. Security concerns about resorts in Turkey and north Africa meant that tourists would come here rather than there. But this whole situation has now changed. Majorca has serious competition again and these competing resorts are much cheaper. So, I suspect that the island is paying the price. Families on a budget are going elsewhere because as we all know Majorca maybe wonderful but it is not cheap. I sincerely hope that I will soon have to go back to booking a table in a restaurant because Majorca needs to be busy.