The trade associations Pimeco and Afedeco; the Association of Wholesalers and Tourist Shops, Amictur, and the CAEB Restaurant Association asked the Balearic Government today to remove the limits on cruise ships entering Balearic ports, in particular Palma, and to increase the number allowed.
“A limitation is being applied and demonising a means of transport that, it has been amply demonstrated, promotes quality tourism, is seasonal and whose tourist spending is very high in our community,” they said in a statement.
The traders and restaurateurs have denied that Palma is “saturated”.
“If the anti-tourists want the centre to be the same all year round as it was during the worst of the pandemic, totally deserted, it is clear that today it is not.
“Fortunately, there are more people, but it is these same people who are contributing to the revival of our economy which has been damaged by Covid, inflation, the rise in mortgage rates and the war in Ukraine, among other factors. It is reckless to limit cruises or planes without first securing a future for our society,” they concluded.
They also call for an end to policies which appeal to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than having a rational debate on the subject of cruise ships which benefit the local economy and on which thousands of families and individuals depend.