“When would you like to come...we have two sittings one at 1pm and another at 3pm and we have space at both sittings,” a member of the reservation team at a popular Mallorca beach restaurant told me last weekend. What is going on? Usually, you would be told that this beach restaurant was fully booked until September!
Apart from some notable exceptions, Mallorcan businesses are not as busy as last year. In fact bar and restaurant takings were down by 20 per cent in June. Last summer you couldn’t get a taxi for love nor money, this year it is a question of when do you want one. Usually busy restaurants are half empty. It is too early to feel the impact of the anti-tourism marches, most people had booked their holidays before the marches took place, so why is Mallorca so quiet?
One of the theories which has been put to me is that people have now spent the cash they saved during the Covid lockdown and now things have returned to normal and everyone is feeling the pinch. Probably no-one really wants to answer this question but could it be a case of “last summer was exceptional and unique because there were so many tourists because of the Covid lockdown?” I just hope that Mallorca hasn’t shot itself in the foot. A poor summer season will have a major impact on the local economy and could give the anti-tourism demonstrators plenty of food for thought.