Over the course of this week, 35,000 cruise passengers will have sailed in to Palma on board thirteen cruise ships of varying sizes. In addition, the Thomson Majesty, with 1,970 passengers on board, docks in Puerto Alcudia on Sunday.
Today (Tuesday), as anyone who happened to have been in Palma would have witnessed, was the busiest day of the week with six cruise ships in port. Another three will be docking tomorrow, including the MSC Preziosa with nearly 4,000 passengers and 1,000 crew on board.
Over the past week, there have been complaints from environmentalists about the island reaching saturation point this summer due to the sheer number of visitors coming to the island. However, the boost that the increase in tourist activity has given the economy has already led to the creation of 20 per cent more jobs than last year and, for the retail and restaurant sectors, cruise passengers are more than welcome.
Already this season, stores in Jaime III and the Born have reported a sharp upturn in business. Department store El Corte Inglés has confirmed that it has noticed a significant increase in business thanks to the cruise industry. The latest figures show that, on average, cruise passengers spend 200 euros per person when they come ashore, most of that going on clothing, jewellery and food. This week, therefore, Palma will cash in on some seven million euros.