A timely reminder from Steve Heapy of Jet2. For the last couple of years some local politicians have simply got too carried away with their rhetoric calling for fewer tourists. Like it or not our livelihood is tourism and tourism of all types from those who stay in two-star hotels on a budget to those who go to five star hotels.
Heapy said be careful what you wish for (in other words fewer tourists) and while it will be dismissed in some quarters as yet another tourism boss crying wolf, he has a point. I think some politicians have been living in “la la land”. They forget that the island has competition and that tourists will vote with their feet and their wallets and purses. It is a wake-up call. Not much will be said locally but it is food for thought. We can't take tourists for granted and pick and choose who we want. Tourists need to feel welcome and what Heapy says is common sense.
Perhaps it is not the sort of rhetoric that some local politicians like but it is the truth, or at least in my view. We can dream of a Shangri-La tourist industry with a few thousand billionaire holidaymakers spending more than all the tourists who visit the island at the moment but this is never going to happen. If Mallorca wants mass tourism then we will have to share the island with millions of visitors. It is a small price to pay for great economic benefits.