Spanish television news has been giving this year’s tourist industry a great deal of coverage over the past few weeks, in particular the sharp drop in trade in the bar and restaurant sectors in popular destinations such as the Puerto Soller. Not to mention the fact that domestic tourism to the islands has struggled due to cost, with a surge of Spaniards expected to travel this month and to go long haul because it’s cheaper than going to the islands. So the latter does not bode very well for the low-season months.
I know the restaurants are hoping September will save the season, let’s wait and see. In the meantime, the latest figures show that over 11 million Britons have holidayed in Spain this year, well ahead of the 7 million French in second place and the Germans in third. But when one looks at Mallorca’s figures, both the UK and German markets have taken a dip.
The Germans took quite a hard hit and some industry sources claim that the introduction of voluntary military service in Germany will hit the “young” tourism market even more in the future. But Menorca and Ibiza have fared well with the British, so what’s happened in Mallorca? Is it a question of price, have the protests had an impact or, as many readers have told us, they don’t feel welcome any more? If that is what people are saying, word of mouth can hurt.