Tomorrow afternoon (Thursday) in Puerto Pollensa there is a meeting under the title of Pollensa & Port (CSV + F) Open All Year (the CSV and F refer to Cala San Vicente and Formentor). Organised by Troels Muller of the Puerto Pollensa Fans Facebook page, it is an open meeting to discuss ways of boosting off-season tourism to Puerto Pollensa (and indeed the other parts of the Pollensa municipality).
Puerto Pollensa Fans, with almost 1,300 members in its closed group, has been vocal in advocating the search for ways to grow off-season tourism, and the specific campaign “Open All Year” was launched on the Facebook page back in October, soon after which I met with Troels and then highlighted issues on the Northern Spotlight pages in the Bulletin on 31 October. Any “serious propositions” to move Puerto Pollensa to being an all-year destination were being called for.
An issue that was raised in October was the inevitable one of flights, so tomorrow’s meeting will take place against the fortuitous background of the announcement by Ryanair that there will be twice-weekly flights in the winter from Edinburgh.
This is particularly interesting for Puerto Pollensa, given a long association with the Scottish market and one that suffered a blow when Globespan stopped trading some years ago. (And on this, this morning I bumped into a Puerto Pollensa restaurant owner - a Majorcan one - and he said how he pleased he was at the Ryanair news. He currently closes in winter.)
This positive development will certainly give tomorrow’s meeting a lift but there are many other issues that need addressing and doubtless will be addressed. While specific suggestions for events and so on are up for discussion, so also is a broader strategic vision and so therefore the involvement of important stakeholders - the town hall, the hoteliers, tour operators and others. A full report will appear on the Northern Spotlight pages this Saturday.
The meeting starts at 5pm and is at Mulligans Bar, C. Atilio Boveri (just off the church square).