Prices in the Balearics rose by 3.2 % between January and August 2024 compared to the same period last year, which represents the highest accumulated rate of inflation of all the regions of Spain. According to data published today, Thursday, by the National Statistics Institute (INE), in August the consumer price index (CPI) rose in region by 0.3 % compared to July and by 2.3 % compared to the same month in 2023.
In the first eight months of the year, prices have risen most in the products and services of hotels, cafés and restaurants (10.2 %), leisure and culture (5 %) and housing (4.9 %), while they have fallen only in clothing and footwear (12.3 %).
The INE has revised the August CPI for Spain as a whole up by one tenth of a percentage point to 2.3% year-on-year, five tenths less than the previous month, while food inflation was cut by six tenths to 2.5%, the lowest rate in three years.
The core inflation rate (excluding energy and unprocessed food) forecast a fortnight ago was confirmed, standing at 2.7% year-on-year in August, one tenth of a percentage point lower than in the previous month. The moderation in the CPI has been influenced by lower fuel and lubricants prices, which rose in the same month in 2023, and the fall in the prices of oils and fats and vegetables, compared with the rise a year ago.
As a result of inflation, alarm bells have been ringing in the restaurant sector all summer: they noticed a drop in the number of customers in Mallorca in the middle of June. This is what the former president of Mallorca CAEB restaurant association, Alfonso Robledo, said. They argue that the drop in clients is more noticeable in the resorts.
The president of the travel agency association Aviba, Pedro Fiol, said that tourists are spending less time in Mallorca, while another new problem this summer is that customers in bars and restaurants have reduced their spending.