Our experience in Paguera
Dear Sir,
I read with interest your Bulletin online. A group of five of us visited Paguera for the second time in 3 years, and overall we had a very pleasant stay. However, we had a very unpleasant day trip to Soller. We had heard that there was a restricted service with the buses and expected some delays.
The journey to Soller took 3 hours, which wasn’t the end of the world ….
However the return journey was scary. We got to Palma without issue and then the trouble started.
We waited for 1.5 hours in Palma’s central bus station, and the queue built and built to 150 – 200 people. When the bus arrived people swarmed and I tried to hold back the “pusher inners” and the atmosphere was unpleasant and bordering on hostile. We had a 87-year-old lady in our party, and were near the front of the queue. The marauding crowd had no concern for anybody and I was nearly arrested for holding back these people, to allow her safe passage. There was absolutely no control, and our bus left ¾ full as the lady driver was scared for her safety. Not the best advert for a beautiful island…..would you return?
Ben Norton
Tourists taking it personally
Dear Sir,
I've followed the problems facing Majorca for a long time. Firstly, it's a shame that the government has allowed the rental properties to contribute to the demise of the island. I feel that the governments duty is to protect their people before selling them out for money. All that said, I personally will never set foot in Majorca again and I feel that I will not be the only one. I worry for the future of that waiter, that fisherman, the average bar owner now that the protesters have sent their massage to us Britons.
The marauding crowd had no concern for anybody and I was nearly arrested for holding back these people, to allow her safe passage.. We read the news items constantly and without fail, it raises our hackles everything. The tourists are taking this very personally and it will be the demise of Majorca. I sincerely hope that the rental and house prices can be resolved soon, no country deserves to be left out in the cold.
Graeme Weatherston
Tourists and Airbnb
Dear Sir,
I live in a typical Mallorca village in the South West. When I bought my house 7 years ago, the village was badly run down. Houses neglected and shabby and partly in ruins. The locals, sold their houses to foreigners, because they paid the best prices. They spent a lot of money renovating and gave local builders work. Yes, a lot of foreigners live here now, their homes look good, they support the local community and pay their taxes to the city hall. The tourists who come on holiday and eat and drink in the Port are being ripped off because rentals for restaurants and cafes are astronomical and most of the premises along the water front belong to locals. It was the city hall who gave permission for the mega villas dotted around the port. It is, and was, a rape of the landscape. And that land originally belonged to locals.
The tourist board on this island has a lot to answer for. There are over 20 5-star hotels dotted around the island, all needing their large gardens watered, the pools filled etc. The water usage is unbelievable. Then there are the cruise ships, giant, ugly things that look like apartment blocks in the Port of Palma, polluting the city with their engines running. The tourists on board those ships, visiting Palma, hardly spend a penny as all inclusive on board. It seems to me the tourist board, hotel owners and estate agents run this island and they cannot get enough.
Airbnb rentals are not the only sinners and it was local owners who sold their properties in the first place. So if they really cared about their island not having enough affordable places to live, they should have helped their own by selling at affordable prices.
Multi-millionaires are constantly in the press on their mega yachts and the estate agents have made a fortune on agent fees over the years. Why target tourists with demos when they should be targeting their tourist board, reduce the amount of daily flights and reflect upon past decisions.
Sincerely,
Pauline Schnidler
Lack of Rental properties for local people
Dear Sir,
The Comments re only allow tourists to go to hotels and ban air BnB sounds good at first but when you dig down it is not possible to enforce. While local property is sold to new owners to people who do not live on the Island and want holiday homes and the local authority of Majorca allows this to happen there is not a chance to stop this happening, you slow down rentals, but purchasing of property will go on and on.
As I have said in previous emails the problem can only be cured by Majorca/Spanish governance and asking outsiders to comment means absolutely nothing, This is a Spanish/Majorcan problem and the electorate need to start pulling strings and that will not happen. Their are too many making huge sums of money from Majorca and change will not come about easily, so to quote an old saying "if things don't alter, they will stay as they are".
Majorca is beautiful and is a cash cow for too many influential people, we can complain and locals can blame the holidaymaker, but it's a Spanish/Majorcan problem that will not change while some people in high places are making the rules and also making the money. We love Majorca for holidays etc but it is clear Majorca does not love it's own, or the local people and housing would not be in this mess.
Regards
Joe
Holidays in Palma
I would like to tell you how disappointed I am with Palma. As a whole the standards have dropped considerably in all services as I have been coming 50 years and treating it as my second home as I love the people and the island itself. I was there just recently and was very disappointed with services with hotels. They have just recently been on about profits but they are not modernising the rooms as they say. The bathrooms are still old fashioned, no walk in showers except in one room for the money you pay it should be a walk in shower in superior rooms. The meals have deteriorated as there is no proper half board. The staff are still very good but they are limited what they can say and do in all hotels.
My wife and I are seriously considering if it is worth the money as we have always come three times a year. Just to finish the Paseo looks much better now it has been done but really needs more cafes like the new Italian bakery which opened a few months ago.
Name supplied