The sale of excursions in the Balearics has fallen by 50% since 2011. This at least is the experience of travel agents, which have seen sales drop from two to one million. The decline has had an impact on coach companies. The transport federation says that the decrease has affected business during the main season - both for excursions during the day and in the evening. Companies have seen profits erode as a result.
Antoni Abrines, the president of the Aviba travel agents association, says that the drop this year is greater than had been expected. Some agents are experiencing falls of 20%. He acknowledges that the level of business in the past is not going to return, suggesting that commercial dynamics are influenced by the spending power of tourists.
There are other factors, though. One is that tourists hire cars instead of taking coach excursions. Another is that the excursions themselves remain much as they always have been, e.g. Caves of Drach, Soller and Sa Calobra. There is little innovation, reckons the transport federation.
Abrines accepts that travel agents need to evolve and not work like they did thirty years ago. In his opinion, new products need to be created to satisfy market changes.