Palma.The area in dispute is the so-called Cuesta de Santo Domingo where a stone stairway leads up over what used to be a tourist and information centre.
Local businesses have told Palma City Council they don't want a public toilet set up in the former tourist information premises because smell from the drains would discourage people from shopping in the area and degrade the overall image of that part of the historic centre.
Small traders association Afedeco said yesterday that representatives have asked for a meeting with the Council to explain the difficulty to them.
Isabel Martinez, owner of four shops on the Cuesta de Santo Domingo said that it would be a mistake to install a public toilet as clients and residents would be bothered by the smell. She claimed that cities in other parts of Europe which have set up public toilets in historic town centres have frequently regretted doing so for the very same reasons about which retailers are now complaining.
Meanwhile, Martinez said that there is widespread support amongst the business community in Cuesta de Santo Domingo for the Council to reopen the tourist information centre.
Martinez said that she and other retailers were constantly being interrupted by tourists coming into their premises for the sole purpose of asking details on how to get to certain key sites in the city or for other ad hoc information.
Traders in the area, said Martinez, whether retailers, bars and restaurants or other kinds of tourist businesses were all agreed that visitors would benefit much more from the reopening of the tourist information centre rather than a public toilet.