This year Mallorca has become a top destination for Spanish and international millionaires especially for special events such as weddings and large parties.
According to sources in the luxury event sector, most of the clients are American. The venues chosen, depending on the number of people, vary greatly. They are held in boutique hotels in Palma, five-star hotels all over the island and, mainly, in large rural fincas and estates that have all the necessary infrastructure to offer the best service.
The average cost is between 60,000 and 200,000 euros. American, Swiss, German, British and Scandinavian businessmen are the main promoters of these VIP events. Companies that specialise in organising all types of weddings and accompanying parties (wedding planners) indicate that the weddings they organise are highly personalised.
For the president of the Balearic business association CAEB-Mallorca Catering, Alfonso Robledo “we have become a highly sought-after destination for weddings and high-level private parties, which has a positive impact on the catering sector, 0-kilometre food products, hiring top chefs based on the island and requests to vineyards for all kinds of beverages”.
For example, Robledo said that there are vineyards, large and small, that “have received orders for up to 100,000 euros for all kinds of wines, cavas and spirits”. And many of the guests at these events arrive in Mallorca in air taxis and private jets, and then stay in the five-star accommodation, boutique hotels or in the wide range of top-class holiday homes and rural hotels.
Owners of estates hosting these events say: “There are events, such as weddings, where the price is not an issue because the aim is to satisfy the guests as much as possible.”
There is such a high demand for events of this kind in Mallorca that requests come directly from Dubai, London, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, as well as from the mainland. The sector claims that this top-end market has already generated some 300 million euros so far this year and that figure that will increase between now and the end of the year because demand is growing.
However, some local residents are not that impressed, One commented on social media: “We are a poor island with low wages as we don’t enjoy the benefits of this mass spending.”