From the start of June, some 600 tourists from the US and Canada will arrive in Mallorca each week on United Airlines flights from Newark Liberty International Airport.
There will be three flights per week and they are full. Andreu Serra, the Council of Mallorca's councillor for tourism, says that the Council has been engaged in various promotional activities with the airline, the media and travel agencies since the start of the year. "There is great demand to come to Mallorca." The opening of the North American market "is going to have a great economic impact on Palma and the rest of the island".
The Aviba travel agencies association in the Balearics highlights the fact that the tourism will be two-way. Demand for flights from Palma to Newark is great. For Mallorca, though, Aviba looks forward to flights being extended into the low and medium seasons and having a positive impact on addressing seasonality. The hoteliers association in Palma suggests that the city's boutique hotels will be the great beneficiaries of the American tourism.
To the 600 tourists on the flights will be added around 900 who will come to Palma each week on the Wonder of the Seas cruise ship.
The president the APEAM maritime business activities association employers' association, Beatriz Orejudo, says that this will be "quality tourism, from which the city and Mallorca will benefit". The weekly arrival of the Wonder of the Seas "represents a qualitative leap in cruise tourism by capturing a market segment, such as the North American, with great future development". The stopover of this Royal Caribbean ship has led to the hiring of forty coaches for island excursions every Monday. Demand for the cruise "has exceeded all our expectations".