No doubt the Balearic and Spanish delegations to the World Travel Market in London last month will be content with the current results. The emphasis was very much on boosting low-season tourism through the promotion of culture, outdoor activities, fiestas, museums, a quality experience and of course the fact that it is a great deal quieter than during the scorchingly hot peak season.
And the latest booking figures, especially when it comes to the UK market, are encouraging. Hotel bookings increased by 41% in the Balearics over the last week, and are 88.4% above this time last year and up to 193.2% above the figures for 2021, according to data from the TravelgateX platform.
With 6.3% of total bookings in Spain, the Balearics was the sixth most booked region, behind Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Catalonia, Madrid and Valencia.
The domestic market accounted for 63.4% of the bookings, while 12% corresponded to bookings from the United Kingdom and just 3.1% to Germany. And it appears that Mallorca is grabbing headlines in the UK on a daily basis and for all the right reasons - for a change.
There is news of extra flights, new luxury hotels opening and more Michelin Star restaurants boosting the island’s reputation for quality gastronomy.
The Mallorca Hoteliers Federation claims that hotels will begin opening in February and continue to do so through March in order to meet demand for low-season holidays from the key source markets.
However, the question has to be asked if the hotels open early, will the resorts? Is it worth small businesses taking a gamble on low-season tourism? On the one hand it is quite understandable if they don’t, the footfall may not prove profitable enough. But on the other, visitors will not be able to enjoy the full experience if the shops, bars and restaurants are closed, especially outside of Palma. It’s similar to the argument over there not being enough winter flights for the hotels to open and vice versa. If only Mallorca could crack the all-year tourism nut once and for all; the island’s got everything going for it.